Are you short of breath or have difficulty breathing? Miami-Dade County's largest private pulmonary facility treats the full range of respiratory conditions with a comprehensive program of diagnosis, education, rehabilitation and therapy for inpatients. We have an outpatient program as well. Special focus areas include asthma, sleep disorders and shortness of breath during exercise.
Licensed respiratory therapists and pulmonary technologists perform the following tests which your physician may prescribe to help diagnose your condition:
Tests for Determining Oxygen Saturation
Under normal conditions, when red blood cells pass through the lungs, 95-100 percent of them are loaded, or "saturated," with oxygen. If you have lung disease or other types of medical conditions, fewer of your red blood cells will be carrying their usual load of oxygen and your oxygen "saturation" will be lower than 95 percent. Your blood oxygen level can be measured in two ways.
"Spot Check"
An estimate of your oxygen saturation can be measured easily and painlessly with a clip that fits on your finger. The clip has a light that shines through one side of your finger and a detector that measures the light that comes through the other side. This machine can estimate your oxygen saturation because blood cells are a bright red color when they are loaded with oxygen and change to a bluish color when they are no longer carrying a full load of oxygen (which is why arteries are red and veins are blue in color). Light passed through your finger is absorbed and reflected differently by red-colored cells than blue-colored cells. This machine can not give a perfect estimate of your oxygen saturation, and patients should be aware that the results can be affected by something as simple as red nail polish on your finger. The spot check is only able to give a rough estimate.
Arterial Blood Gases (ABG)
A better test for direct measurement of oxygen saturation, as well as other lung function parameters, is called an arterial blood gas (ABG). For this test, a small sample of blood is drawn directly out of an artery. Most routine blood tests use blood that is drawn out of a vein, so this test is a little different. The artery that is sampled most often is the radial artery in your wrist, the one that you can feel when you take your pulse. The test takes only a few minutes, and results are faxed immediately to your physician's office.
Pulmonary Function Tests
The tests listed below are types of Pulmonary Function Tests, which are done in a special laboratory. During the test, you will be instructed to breathe in and out through a tube that is connected to different machines.
Flow Volume Loop (FVL) is a basic test to check for obstructive lung disorders such as asthma and emphysema, or restrictive disorders such as pulmonary fibrosis. This test is done to measure how forcefully you are able to inhale and exhale when you are trying to take as large a breath as possible. The test usually takes about 20 minutes.
Complete Pulmonary Function Test (CPFT) is a more thorough diagnostic pulmonary function test which includes:
- FVL (flow volume loop)
- SVC (slow vital capacity) measures the total amount of air that can be exhaled slowly after a deep breath. In certain lung diseases this measurement is quite different than the FVL.
- MVV (maximum voluntary ventilation) is the measurement of the largest volume of air that can be breathed per minute by voluntary effort.
- DLCO (single breath diffusion capacity), which tests your lung's efficiency at delivering oxygen and other gases to your bloodstream. A small quantity of carbon monoxide (too small to do any harm) is breathed in and the amount you breathe out will be measured and compared. Your ability to absorb carbon monoxide into the blood is representative of your ability to absorb other gases such as oxygen.
- TGV (thoracic gas volume) and RAW (airway resistance) tests are used to calculate the amount of air you are breathing. You will sit inside an airtight cubicle that looks like a phone booth and breath in and out through a mouthpiece. The air pressure inside the box will change with your breathing because your chest expands and contracts while you breathe. This pressure change can be measured and used to calculate the amount of air you must be breathing.
Pulmonary Exercise Stress Testing
South Miami Hospital is one of just a few locations in Miami that perform this procedure. This is for people who experience breathing problems during exercise. We perform a complete series of tests that monitor and graphically record heart rate, EKGs, oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production, blood pressure and oxygen saturation during exercise. An exercise pulmonologist is present during testing and will interpret the results, then send them to your physician office.
Bronchial Provocation Testing (Bronchial Challenge)
A special diagnostic test for Hyperactive Airways Disease, this may be useful when asthma is suspected.
For additional information, please call 786-662-8678.