A variety of conditions can affect your chest and lungs: infections, asthma, cystic fibrosis, emphysema and lung disease caused by smoking or other toxins. Many heart conditions can affect your breathing and your lungs, too.
Whether you’re worried that a cold has turned into bronchitis, or you seek relief from a chronic condition like asthma, our pulmonary specialists can help.
Chest & Lung Health at Kapiolani
If you have a child with a lung and breathing related condition, you can count on our experts to provide outstanding care.
Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children provides comprehensive pediatric respiratory care services for patients in Hawaii and the Pacific region.
Pediatric Pulmonary Test Lab
Pediatric patient in a machine called the body box. The body box is commonly used for spirometry testing.
Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) are tests that show how well your lungs are working. The tests measure lung volume, capacity, rates of flow and gas exchange.
This information can help your healthcare provider diagnose and decide the treatment of certain lung disorders.
- More info from our Health Library: Pulmonary Function Tests
Children’s lung function testing and education support is available through the Pediatric Pulmonary Function Test Laboratory (PFT Lab) at Kapiolani. Our family-friendly facility provides a nurturing environment to encourage children to give their best effort, which results in more accurate diagnoses and treatment.
The Pediatric PFT Lab partners with providers in Hawaii to care for and monitor diseases such as:
- Asthma
- Cystic fibrosis
- Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy
- Spinal muscular atrophy
- Bronchiectasis
The PFT Lab can help patients who require oxygen to perform day-to-day activities, such as walking to the bathroom in their house or going shopping at the mall with friends.
Our dedicated team of pediatric technologists, pulmonologists and staff are specially trained to address the unique care required when testing a child’s lung function.
Children often follow directions for lung function testing differently than adults. Having someone who is able to understand the ways children communicate and react is important to get accurate test results.
Pediatric Function Test Lab Services
- Spirometry - Tests the maximum force of a patient’s breath after inhalation and exhalation.
- Plethysmography - Measures lung volume.
- Diffusion - Measures gas exchange from lungs to blood stream.
- Bronchodilator testing - Tests lung function and effectiveness of medication.
- Exercise testing – Tests of exercise capacity including six-minute walk and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to help evaluate lung function.
- High-altitude simulation testing - Determines if supplemental oxygen is needed when flying on an airplane.
- Tracheostomy manometry – Aids in tracheostomy management.
- Maximal inspiratory and expiratory pressure tests – Measures of lung muscle strength.
Our experts also provide education to patients and families to manage lung function. This includes information on how to perform manual chest physiotherapy.
Pulmonary function tests also assist physicians treating children with serious medical conditions. Doctors use PFT tests to monitor the effects of treatments and potential complications related to chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and congenital heart cases.
How to Schedule a Pulmonary Function Test
Pulmonary function tests are by referral only. If you are concerned about your child’s lung health, please speak with their pediatrician, primary care provider or pulmonologist. They will help determine if lung function testing is right for your child.
This service is available at: Kapiolani Straub Benioff Wilcox