Yaron Gesthalter, MD
Associate Professor
Medicine
School of Medicine

For those with symptoms related to airway obstructions (from either malignant tumor invasion or non-malignant strictures) I use various ablative techniques to relieve airway obstruction. I also treat patients with pleural disease while emphasizing outpatient care. Additionally, I attend on the UCSF pulmonary consult service and in the intensive care units.

My research relates to the early detection and prevention of lung cancer through minimally invasive ways. My research spans translational and computational approaches as well as clinical trials.

In order to schedule an appointment with Dr Gesthalter at the UCSF Interventional Pulmonary clinic please call (415)885-3882. Please bring all available images (cat scans, PET scans) on CDs at the time of consultation to facilitate care.

Clinical Expertise

• Thoracic malignancies
• Lung nodules
• Symptom management
• Diagnostic and staging procedures
• Complex pleural effusions – ultrasound, thoracentesis, chest tubes, tunneled pleural catheters, medical thoracoscopy
• Ablative bronchoscopic techniques (cryo- surgery, electrosurgery, argon plasma coagulation (APC), cryospray, photodynamic therapy)
• Advanced bronchoscopy (electromagnetic navigation bronchoscopy (EMN), endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), rigid bronchoscopy)
• Fiducial placement for radiation therapy
• Sarcoidosis and other non-malignant lung pathologies
• Tracheal and bronchial obstructions
• Tracheal and bronchial stent placement

Research Interests

• Lung cancer diagnostics
• Bioinformatics
• Application of minimally invasive diagnostic and therapeutic techniques
• Lung cancer screening
• Smoking cessation
• Management of lung transplant related airway and pleural disease

• Explor-A-Thora: A Novel Three-Dimensionally Printed Pleural Simulator.
  ATS scholar 2024 Krumm IR, Drapeau S, Kim B, Gesthalter YB, Santhosh L
• Assessment of Advanced Diagnostic Bronchoscopy Outcomes for Peripheral Lung Lesions: A Delphi Consensus Definition of Diagnostic Yield and Recommendations for Patient-centered Study Designs. An Official American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians Research Statement.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2024 Gonzalez AV, Silvestri GA, Korevaar DA, Gesthalter YB, Almeida ND, Chen A, Gilbert CR, Illei PB, Navani N, Pasquinelli MM, Pastis NJ, Sears CR, Shojaee S, Solomon SB, Steinfort DP, Maldonado F, Rivera…
• Education for Tobacco Use Disorder Treatment: Current State, Evidence, and Unmet Needs.
  ATS scholar 2023 Melzer AC, Reese ZA, Mascarhenas L, Clancy CB, Deepak J, Gogineni H, Gesthalter Y, Hart JL
• Interventional Pulmonology: Extending the Breadth of Thoracic Care.
  Annual review of medicine 2023 Gesthalter YB, Channick CL
• COMPLEX PLEURAL SPACES: THE RISKS OF REPEATED THORACENTESIS.
  CHEST Journal 2023 BRYAN KIM, ILANA R KRUMM, YARON GESTHALTER
• Safety and utility of indwelling pleural catheters in lung transplant recipients.
  Clinical transplantation 2023 Trindade AJ, Lentz RJ, Gannon WD, Rickman OB, Shojaee S, Vandervest K, Schwartz G, Li GW, Kumar A, Garcha PS, Seeley EJ, Gesthalter YB, Mueller S, Egan JP, DeMaio AJ, Yarmus LB, Josan ES, Pannu JK, …
• Medical Societies Must Choose Professional Meeting Locations Responsibly in a Post-Roe World.
  Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2023 Lee AG, Maley J, Hibbert K, Akgün KM, Hauschildt KE, Law A, Kaminski N, Hayes M, Gesthalter Y, Bosslet GT, Santhosh L, Witkin A, Hills-Dunlap K, Çoruh B, Gershengorn HB, Hardin CC
• Real-World Perspectives and Practices for Pneumonitis/Interstitial Lung Disease Associated With Trastuzumab Deruxtecan Use in Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Expressing Metastatic Breast Cancer.
  JCO oncology practice 2023 Rugo HS, Crossno CL, Gesthalter YB, Kelley K, Moore HB, Rimawi MF, Westbrook KE, Buys SS
• Impact of a Dedicated Pleural Clinic on Indwelling Pleural Catheter Related Outcomes: A Retrospective Single Center Experience.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2023 Malcolm KB, Seeley EJ, Gesthalter YB
• Use of tunneled pleural catheters in chronic empyema: Two case reports and brief review of the literature.
  Respiratory medicine case reports 2022 Krumm IR, Gesthalter YB
• Tracheal Reconstruction Using Endotracheal Stent and Pectoralis Major Muscle Flap.
  2022 Ali B. Abbasi, Andre Alcon, Alap Patel, Yaron Gesthalter, William Hoffman, Johannes Kratz
• Acquired Benign Tracheoesophageal Fistula: Novel Use of a Nasal Septal Occluder.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2022 Bawaadam HS, Russell M, Gesthalter YB
• Bleeding Risk With Combination Intrapleural Fibrinolytic and Enzyme Therapy in Pleural Infection: An International, Multicenter, Retrospective Cohort Study.
  Chest 2022 Akulian J, Bedawi EO, Abbas H, Argento C, Arnold DT, Balwan A, Batra H, Uribe Becerra JP, Belanger A, Berger K, Burks AC, Chang J, Chrissian AA, DiBardino DM, Fuentes XF, Gesthalter YB, Gilbert CR, …
• Ambulatory Management of a Recurrent Pneumothorax With an Indwelling Tunneled Pleural Catheter.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2022 Bawaadam HS, Boberg M, Gesthalter YB
• Erector Spinae Plane Block: A Novel Anesthetic Approach for Pleuroscopy.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2022 Sharp A, Mudda G, Braehler MR, Gesthalter YB
• Immunosuppression-Induced Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis Following Bilateral Lung Transplantation.
  The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation 2022 J. Maheshwari, A. Perez, N. Kolaitis, D. Calabrese, A. Venado Estrada, J. Golden, R.J. Shah, L. Leard, M. Kleinhenz, K. Jones, A. Urisman, J. Kukreja, B. Trinh, Y. Gesthalter, J. Singer, S. Hays
• Management of Immunotherapy-Related Toxicities, Version 1.2022, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.
  Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network : JNCCN 2022 Thompson JA, Schneider BJ, Brahmer J, Achufusi A, Armand P, Berkenstock MK, Bhatia S, Budde LE, Chokshi S, Davies M, Elshoury A, Gesthalter Y, Hegde A, Jain M, Kaffenberger BH, Lechner MG, Li T, Marr …
• Treatment of Advanced-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2022 Gesthalter Y, Smyth R, Sullivan D
• Treatment of Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2022 Gesthalter Y, Smyth R, Sullivan D
• Treatment of Small Cell Lung Cancer.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2022 Gesthalter Y, Smyth R
• Keep it Clean: Novel Use of Sterile Disposable Flexible Bronchoscopes for Pleuroscopy.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2022 Hamilton BCS, Gesthalter YB
• Lung Cancer Screening.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2021 Gesthalter YB, Seeley EJ
• A retrospective observational study of benign anthracotic lymphadenitis and its association with PET avid lymph nodes in patients undergoing cancer evaluation.
  Journal of thoracic disease 2021 Ivanick NM, Shrestha P, Podolsky MJ, Walavalkar V, Lucas CH, Gesthalter YB, Seeley EJ
• Smoking Cessation and Cancer.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2021 Gesthalter Y, Kathuria H, Moazed F, Tobacco Action Committee of the American Thoracic Society
• Decreasing 30-day Readmissions for Pleural Effusions after Lung Transplant.
  The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation 2021 J.T. Teraoka, K.H. Nguyen, D. Hart, S. Peace, L. Leard, G. Iyer, D. Gordon, B. Zuckerman, J. Pascual, J. Ponzo, A. Perez, N. Budanova, Y. Gesthalter, B. Trinh, J. Kukreja, S. Hays, A. Venado
• Key Highlights From the American Association for Bronchology and Interventional Pulmonology Evidence-Informed Guidelines and Expert Panel Report for the Management of Indwelling Pleural Catheters.
  Chest 2020 Miller CRJ, Chrissian AA, Lee YCG, Rahman NM, Wahidi MM, Tremblay A, Hsia DW, Almeida FA, Shojaee S, Mudambi L, Belanger AR, Bedi H, Gesthalter YB, Gaynor M, MacKenney KL, Lewis SZ, Casal RF
• AABIP Evidence-informed Guidelines and Expert Panel Report for the Management of Indwelling Pleural Catheters.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2020 Miller RJ, Chrissian AA, Lee YCG, Rahman NM, Wahidi MM, Tremblay A, Hsia DW, Almeida FA, Shojaee S, Mudambi L, Belanger AR, Bedi H, Gesthalter YB, Gaynor M, MacKenney KL, Lewis SZ, Casal RF
• Therapy-Induced Evolution of Human Lung Cancer Revealed by Single-Cell RNA Sequencing.
  Cell 2020 Maynard A, McCoach CE, Rotow JK, Harris L, Haderk F, Kerr DL, Yu EA, Schenk EL, Tan W, Zee A, Tan M, Gui P, Lea T, Wu W, Urisman A, Jones K, Sit R, Kolli PK, Seeley E, Gesthalter Y, Le DD, Yamauchi KA…
• Abstract 3377: NSCLC subtype-associated molecular and cellular alterations in the normal-appearing bronchial epithelium.
  Cancer Research 2020 Xingyi Shi, Jiarui Zhang, Steven Callori, Joshua Campbell, Denise Fine, Yaron Gesthalter, Gang Liu, Xiaohui Xiao, Avrum Spira, Marc Lenburg, Jennifer Beane
• Flexible Bronchoscopic Deployment of a Silicone Bronchial Stent.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2020 Gesthalter YB, Seeley EJ
• Characterizing smoking-induced transcriptional heterogeneity in the human bronchial epithelium at single-cell resolution.
  Science advances 2019 Duclos GE, Teixeira VH, Autissier P, Gesthalter YB, Reinders-Luinge MA, Terrano R, Dumas YM, Liu G, Mazzilli SA, Brandsma CA, van den Berge M, Janes SM, Timens W, Lenburg ME, Spira A, Campbell JD, …
• Indwelling Tunneled Pleural Catheters.
  American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2019 Kheir F, Akulian J, Gesthalter YB
• Cryoprobe retrieval of an airway foreign body: A case report and literature review.
  International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 2019 David AP, Xu MJ, Rosbe KW, Meyer AK, Gesthalter YB, Chan DK
• Pulmonary Sclerosing Pneumocytoma.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2018 Rivera E, Gesthalter Y, VanderLaan P, Parikh MS
• Treatment of persistent bronchopleural fistula with a manually modified endobronchial stent: a case-report and brief literature review.
  Journal of thoracic disease 2018 de Lima A, Holden V, Gesthalter Y, Kent MS, Parikh M, Majid A, Chee A
• Bronchoscopic Management of Endobronchial Tumor in Patient With Hemoptysis and Acute Myocardial Infarction.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2018 Perez C, Kheir F, Barry M, Gesthalther Y, Majid A
• Impact of acute exposure to cigarette smoke on airway gene expression.
  Physiological genomics 2018 Billatos E, Faiz A, Gesthalter Y, LeClerc A, Alekseyev YO, Xiao X, Liu G, Ten Hacken NHT, Heijink IH, Timens W, Brandsma CA, Postma DS, van den Berge M, Spira A, Lenburg ME
• Sarcoidosis With Pleural Effusion as the Presenting Symptom.
  Journal of bronchology & interventional pulmonology 2018 Rivera E, Gesthalter Y, Vardelaan P, Chee A, Majid A
• Evaluations of Implementation at Early-Adopting Lung Cancer Screening Programs: Lessons Learned.
  Chest 2017 Gesthalter YB, Koppelman E, Bolton R, Slatore CG, Yoon SH, Cain HC, Tanner NT, Au DH, Clark JA, Wiener RS
• A Randomized Phase IIb Trial of myo-Inositol in Smokers with Bronchial Dysplasia.
  Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) 2016 Lam S, Mandrekar SJ, Gesthalter Y, Allen Ziegler KL, Seisler DK, Midthun DE, Mao JT, Aubry MC, McWilliams A, Sin DD, Shaipanich T, Liu G, Johnson E, Bild A, Lenburg ME, Ionescu DN, Mayo J, Yi JE, …
• A Call to Formalize Training in Tobacco Dependence Treatment for Pulmonologists.
  Annals of the American Thoracic Society 2016 Gesthalter YB, Wiener RS, Kathuria H
• Translating the transcriptome into tools for the early detection and prevention of lung cancer.
  Thorax 2015 Gesthalter YB, Vick J, Steiling K, Spira A
• Updates and controversies in the rapidly evolving field of lung cancer screening, early detection, and chemoprevention.
  Cancers 2014 Kathuria H, Gesthalter Y, Spira A, Brody JS, Steiling K