Cardiopulmonary Diagnostic Services

Is that girl in a spaceship? No, she is doing a simple, pain-free breathing test under the watchful eyes of her doctor and respiratory therapist in Cardiopulmonary Diagnostic Services.

Cardiopulmonary Diagnostic Services (aka the PFT lab) performs testing to analyze the function of the lung and heart. Our services are performed by trained and registered respiratory therapists. They include diagnostic testing as well as education and teaching for patients and families. We proudly serve thousands of children annually.

Why Choose Us?

Cardiopulmonary Diagnostic Services adheres to the American Thoracic Society (ATS) guidelines, and we’ve passed rigorous evaluations to be included in the ATS Pulmonary Function Laboratory Registry.  

We know that walking up to a big piece of equipment for testing can seem scary to children and even adults. Our state-of-the-art equipment features interactive games, comfortable seating for all body types, and quieter sounds to help kids feel more comfortable. All equipment is fitted with disposable mouthpieces, and we have air filtration systems running to help avoid any infection or cross contamination issues.

Additionally, our equipment uses the most updated values from the Global Lung Initiative (GLI) to interpret studies, which ensures we capture accurate values regardless of age, gender and ethnicity. For kids with scoliosis and neuromuscular disease, we use arm span measurements to ensure we are accurately interpreting their test data. We strive to ensure all patients and families get the very best diagnostic testing to help their healthcare providers monitor their disease and response to therapies.

Our respiratory therapists have received multiple awards and recognition for their outstanding commitment to patient care and ensuring each child has a positive experience. All of our therapists are certified in ethics and able to conduct testing for research trials (CITI trained).

As part of our commitment to research and patient care, we participate in several research studies with pulmonology, cardiology and neurology divisions. We are especially proud to be a clinical trials site for nasal nitric oxide testing to diagnosis patients with Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia.

We perform testing on patients with a variety of pulmonary, cardiac and neuromuscular diseases. We also provide critical lung function monitoring for patients with cancer who are undergoing treatment with oncology.

The primary conditions we treat include:

  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Primary ciliary dyskinesia
  • Asthma
  • Congenital heart disease
  • Neuromuscular respiratory weakness
  • Sickle cell disease 
  • Malignancy 
  • Spirometry
  • Body Plethysmography
  • Diffusion
  • Exercise Testing (for cardiac reasons as well as exercise induced asthma)
  • Fractional Excretion of Nitric Oxide (FeNO)
  • Nasal Nitric Oxide Testing
  • Pulse Oximetry
  • Car Seat Testing
  • Stress Oximetry (to measure baby’s safety on home oxygen)
  • Respiratory Muscle Pressures (measures strength for patients with neuromuscular weakness)
  • Nebulizer/MDI Spacer Teaching
  • Airway Clearance Teaching (aerobika, acapella, chest PT, huffing/autogenic drainage)
  • Airway Hyperresponsiveness Testing
  • Bronchodilator Testing
  • Pre-op Testing

Frequently Asked Questions

Call us at 860.545.9447. Our team is helping patients all day and can return phone calls generally within 48 hours. The desired test must be ordered by your provider before an appointment may be scheduled. 

The Administrative Assistant will contact the patient/legal guardian to schedule the test. Any patient instructions needed will be given at the time the appointment is made. In addition, the confirmation and pre-testing instructions are provided via MyChart. 

  • The length of testing can range from 30 minutes and 2 hours, depending what your provider has ordered. 
  • Please arrive 15 minutes early to account for possible delays in our parking garages or check in lines. 
  • After check in, the Respiratory Therapist will greet you and take you to the testing area.
  • If pre-testing instructions were not adhered to, testing may require rescheduling.

Cardiopulmonary Diagnostic Services is a hospital based service. There may be a copayment required at check in. We are always happy to provide you with the CPT codes for you to contact your insurance company with questions about expected costs. 

  • Late Policy: Out of respect for all of patients and in an effort to remain on schedule, if a family arrives late to an appointment, we may not be able to see them that day, and we may need to reschedule their appointment.
  • No Show: Our testing can be lengthy with a dedicated Respiratory Therapist to each patient. This is a large amount of time we could have devoted to another patient that goes unused. A team member will confirm appointments a week prior with a phone call or MyChart message. We encourage a minimum of 24 hours’ notice for cancellation.
  • Sick Policy: On arrival, if patient presents with active symptoms, testing may not be performed and may require rescheduling. 

Resources for Patients & Families