About The Specialist - iplungclinic.com

Dr Akash Verma

MBBS, MRCP (UK), FAMS (Resp Med), FRCP (Edin)

Dr. Akash Verma is a respiratory physician practising at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore. He sub-specializes in Intensive Care Medicine & Advanced Bronchoscopy and performs both flexible and rigid bronchoscopy with techniques of laser resection of lung cancer, silicone airway stenting, pleuroscopy and navigation bronchoscopy.

Prior to joining Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Dr. Akash was a Senior Consultant in Respiratory Medicine at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.
After graduation, he trained at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore before obtaining his membership of Royal College of Physicians (United Kingdom). Upon completion of advanced training in Respiratory Medicine and Critical Care, He was conferred a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore (FAMS). Subsequently he was awarded the Health Manpower Development Program (HMDP) fellowship and was a visiting fellow in the department of Interventional Pulmonology at Samsung Medical Centre-Seoul, Mayo Clinic-USA, and University of Chicago.

He pioneered the establishment of the service of “navigation bronchoscopy” in Singapore in 2018 as a part of improving the quality of the journey of the lung cancer patients in the healthcare system. In addition, he undertook initiatives such as formation of dedicated lung cancer clinic and increased utilization of ultrasound guided and rigid bronchoscopy techniques with the emphasis on provision of safe & timely diagnosis with comfort.

Specialist, Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine

MENTORS

Dr. Akash has had mentors in Respiratory Medicine like Dr. Narendran Kanagasuntheram (Changi General Hospital), Dr. Hojoong Kim (Samsung Medical Centre), Dr. Eric S Edell, the former president of Congress of Bronchology (Mayo Clinic), Dr. Uday Prakash, the publisher of first book on bronchoscopy (Mayo Clinic), Dr. Um Sang-Won (Samsung Medical Centre), Dr. Goh Soon Keng, Dr. Dessmon Tai (Tan Tock Seng Hospital) & Dr Ong Kian Chung.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Dr. Akash is widely published. He has authored over 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers to date. He was the first Respiratory physician to bring and start Navigation Bronchoscopy (GPS technology for lung diseases), in Singapore for its use in the management of lung cancer.

FEATURED ARTICLE ON NAVIGATION BRONCHOSCOPY (GPS TECHNOLOGY) FOR LUNG CANCER DIAGNOSIS
FEATURED ARTICLE ON LUNG CANCER ON HOW TO DIAGNOSE IT
FEATURED ARTICLE ON IMPORTANCE OF TIMELINESS IN LUNG CANCER DIAGNOSIS
FEATURED ARTICLE ON LUNG CANCER WITH BLOCKED WIND PIPES
FEATURED ARTICLE ON INCIDENTALLY DETECTED LUNG NODULE
3 D ROAD MAP FOR DIAGNOSING LUNG CANCER

TEACHING

Dr. Akash loves to teach and has the innate ability to simplify complex concepts for trainees and patients. He continues to have active interest in teaching and has taught in several international conferences and bronchoscopy courses as an invited speaker both in South East Asia (Seoul 2013, Singapore 2015, Japan 2016, Indonesia 2017-2019, Malaysia 2019) and Europe (Italy 2016).

PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Verma A, Park H Y, Kim H, et al. CT Imaging to Optimize the Time of Silicone Stent Removal in Post-Tuberculosis Tracheobronchial Stenosis. Radiology. 2012 May; 263(2):562-8.
Verma A, Kang Y R, Kim H, Um S W. Ultrasound Guided Fine Needle Aspiration of Lung Mass via Trans-esophageal approach Using Endobronchial Ultrasound Bronchoscope. Thoracic Cancer 3 (2012) 280–283.
Verma A, Um S W, Kim H et al. Long-Term Stenting in Patients with Benign Tracheobronchial Stenosis. ASAIO J. 2012 Sep-Oct; 58(5):530-4.
Verma A, Kim H, Um S W et al. Endobronchial ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration for the diagnosis of central lung parenchymal lesions. Yonsei Med J. 2013 May 1; 54 (3):672-8.
Verma A. All that wheezes is not Asthma & COPD; Importance of flow volume loop is localizing the source of wheezing. Medical Grapewine (November 2012; p.12) http://www.medicalgrapevineasia.com/emag/Nov2012/
Zackary S. De Pew, Verma A, Fabien Maldonado. Lung flooding allows for transthoracic ultrasonographic visualization of endobronchial forceps. J Bronchology Interv Pulmonol. 2014 Oct; 21(4):369-70.
Zackary S. De Pew, Verma A, Wigle, and Dennis et al. Non-Specific Pleuritis: Optimum Duration of Follow-Up. Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 2014 Jun; 97 (6):1867-71.
Koh J, Xu Y, Yeo L, Tee A, Verma A, Ng A. Achieving Optimal Clinical Outcomes in Ultrasound- Guided Central Venous Catheterizations of the Internal Jugular Vein After a Simulation-Based Training Program for Novice Learners. Simul Healthc. 2014 Jun; 9 (3):161-6.
Verma A, Mui Yok Lee, Chunhong Wang et al. Efficiency of Performing Pulmonary Procedures in a shared Endoscopy Unit: procedure time, turnaround time, delays, and procedure waiting time. J Bronchology Interv Pulmonol. 2014 Apr; 21(2):135-41.
Verma A, Aza Taha, Sridhar V, Augustine Tee. Effectiveness of Medical Thoracoscopy and Thoracoscopic Talc Pleurodesis in patients with Exudative Pleural effusion. Singapore Med J. 2015 May; 56(5): 268–273. 10.11622/smedj.2015075
Verma A, John Abisheganaden, Eric S Edell. EBUS-TBNA: Are Two Needle Revolutions (back & forth movement of the needle in the lymph node) Adequate for Diagnosis of Lung Cancer? J Pulm Respir Med 2014, 5:1 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-105X.1000239
Jonathen Venkatachalam, John Abisheganaden, Shuyu Chen, Albert Y H Lim, Dessmon Y H Tai, Soon Keng Goh, Ai Ching Kor, Verma A. Lung Cancer in Asian Octogenarian Population. Annals of Gerontology and Geriatric Research. 2015; 2(2): 1026.
Verma A, Akhil Chopra, Albert Y H Lim, John Abisheganaden. Timeliness of In-Hospital Journey of Suspected Lung Cancer Patients: From First Presentation-to-Start of Therapy. International Journal of Cancer Research and Molecular Mechanisms 1 (1): http://www.sciforschenonline.org/journals/cancer-research/article-data/IJCRMM-1-102/IJCRMM-1-102.pdf
Verma A, Albert Y H Lim, Dessmon Y H Tai, John Abisheganaden. Timeliness of Diagnosing Lung Cancer: Number of Procedures & Time Needed To Establish Diagnosis—Being Right the First Time. Medicine (Baltimore). 2015 Jul; 94 (29):e1216.
Verma A, Eric S Edell, John Abisheganaden. Flexible Bronchoscopy: Importance of Standardization of Practice for the Best Route of Insertion. Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews, 2015. 11(3): 224-230.
Huey Ying Lim, Ser Hon Puah, Leslie Jonathan P S Ang, Verma A. Subconjunctival Haemorrhage from Bronchoscopy: A Case Report. Respiratory Medicine Case Reports. Volume 16, 2015, Pages 97–100. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4681957
J Abisheganaden, YY Ding, WF Chong, BH Heng, Verma A, TK Lim. Health-Care Associated Pneumonia (HCAP): Identification of Low and High-risk Patients. Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews, 2015. 11(3): 241-246.
Chee Kiang Phua, Elmer Algoso Reyes, John Abisheganaden, Albert Y H Lim, Verma A. Failure of Expansion of Covered Self-Expanding Metal Stent during Tracheal Stenting. CRIM. 2015. http://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/crim/article/view/8012
Verma A, Abisheganaden J, Light RW. Identifying Malignant Pleural Effusion by A Cancer Ratio (Serum LDH: Pleural Fluid ADA Ratio). Lung. 2015 Dec 17.
Verma A, Wen Yuan Sim, Dessmon Y H Tai, Soon Keng Goh, Ai Ching Kor, Chee Kiang Phua, Benjamin Ho, Albert Y H Lim, Sennen J W Lew, Huiying Xu, Ser Hon Puah, John Abisheganaden.