PFT Page

The Children's Pulmonary Function Testing Laboratory is the first and only independent fully functioning pediatric pulmonary diagnostic center in Orlando Florida and, as a part of Orlando Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Associates, allows for first hand and immediate evaluation and interpretation of pulmonary function tests while the patients are still in the office.

The Children’s Pulmonary function laboratory is an advanced pulmonary function laboratory that performs complete pulmonary function tests including: spirometry, body plethysmography, resistance measurements, diffusion capacity and respiratory muscle force measurements. Pulmonary function tests are performed on children 6 years of age and older. However, some children as young as 4 years of age have shown the mental aptitude to perform pulmonary function tests correctly.

Patients who benefit for pulmonary function tests include, children with asthma, pneumonia, leukemia undergoing chemotherapy, obesity, Pectus Excavatum,/Carinatum, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and other conditions causing, obstructive, restrictive or neuromuscular conditions.

Spirometry is a technique used for the evaluation of obstructive lung disease. This can be used for the evaluation of patients with a variety of diagnoses or conditions such as asthma, reactive airway disease, wheezing, bronchitis, pneumonia it involves having a patient blow forcefully into a
mouthpiece connected to the spirometer for up to 6 seconds and is usually easily performed by
children older than 6 years of age but can be done in some children as young as 4 years of age.

Impulse Oscillometry is a state of the art and newly employed technique for the measurement of airway capacitance and reactance and is a technique that allows for evaluation of airway resistance and response to therapy in pediatric patients as young as 3 years of age. In our lab facility we have successfully used this technique with reproducibilty in children as young as 2 1/2 years of age and this is the only facility in Central Florida providing this capability to the pediatric populace.

Diffusion capacity is used to evaluate the diffusibility of gases or ease with which gases pass through the lung membranes and are absorbed into the body. This is particularly important in the evaluation of patients who have been exposed chemotherapy agents that may affect the lung membranes as a side effect as well as patients with pulmonary hemorrhage or hemosiderosis which are conditions with the deposition of blood onto the lung membrane surfaces.

Body plethysmography and gas dilution techniques for the measurement of lung volumes are done in the practice. This is especially useful for the evaluation of chemotherapy patients and patients with restrictive lung diseases such as interstitial lung diseases, sickle cell disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, pneumonia and patients with severe scoliosis or pectus excavatum affecting lung expansion.

Airway resistance is used for measurement of the work and forces required to move air through the
lungs and is useful in the evaluation of patients with suspected upper and lower airway obstructive disease.