Pulmonary Care

Depending on your symptoms, your testing may include:

• Sputum and breath specimens analysis
• Blood oxygen, carbon dioxide and other gas measurements
• Pulmonary function testing to measure lung capacity
• Stress tests and other studies of your cardiopulmonary system
• Sleep study

• Pulmonary Function Survey
• Pulmonary function testing measures lung function through a battery of tests including simple screening spirometry, formal lung volume measurement, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide and arterial blood gases.

A screening spirometry test involves inhaling deeply before closing your mouth around the spirometer mouthpiece and then exhaling through the tubing while measurements are taken. The volume of air inhaled or exhaled, and the length of time each breath takes, is recorded and analyzed. A spirometry test can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, depending on the different types of breathing tests being measured.

During body plethysmography, you sit inside a glass-walled airtight box about the size of a refrigerator call a plethysmograph. As you perform breathing exercises, the pressure in the breathing tube and box is recorded.

Depending on your diagnosis, your treatment could include any of the following:

• Oxygen to help with breathing
• Mechanical ventilation if you cannot breathe adequately on your own
• Therapies to help recover lung function
• Aerosol medications (nebulizers) to improve breathing and prevent respiratory infections
• Rehabilitation activities, such as low-impact aerobic exercises to improve chronic lung problems
• Smoking cessation to improve lung function