PULMONARY FUNCTION LABORATORY
Our state-of-the-art pulmonary function test laboratory (PFT) offers equipment for comprehensive evaluation for infants, children and adolescents with a wide range of respiratory and systemic diseases
The laboratory offers the following range of services:
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- Spirometry, lung volumes and diffusion capacity of the lungs
- Respiratory muscle strength testing
- Exercise stress testing
- Six-minute walk test
- Methacholine challenge
- Impulse oscillometry testing
PFTs are a key tool for diagnosing and characterizing respiratory disease in children such as confirming an asthma diagnosis, assessing airflow obstruction and bronchodilator responsiveness, identifying restrictive lung disease, and evaluate abnormalities in gas exchange. Beyond diagnosis, PFTs are crucial for monitoring children’s response to therapy over time and guiding treatment adjustments (such as stepping asthma therapy up or down, assessing response to airway clearance or anti-inflammatory therapy, and monitoring for medication or treatment related lung toxicity).
We partner closely with divisions across the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Einstein to support pre-operative evaluations (including scoliosis, bariatric surgery, and pectus excavatum) and to provide longitudinal monitoring for patients with neuromuscular disease, sickle cell disease, rheumatologic conditions and those receiving cancer therapy or post–bone marrow transplant care.
By performing exercise stress tests, our physicians are able to identify the causes of exercise limitation through physiology testing, which measures patients' pulmonary and cardiac function while they are exercising to maximum capacity and thus determine if pulmonary or cardiac mechanisms are limiting exercise performance. This testing can identify ventilatory limitations, impaired gas exchange, exercise-induced bronchospasm/asthma, or non-pulmonary contributors to symptoms, allowing us to tailor treatment plans and provide objective guidance for safe return to activity.