Evaluating and monitoring the adolescent with pulmonary function testing.

This article reviews pulmonary function tests (quantitative measurements of physiologic functioning of lungs, chest wall, and respiratory muscles) as valuable tools for the diagnosis and management of chronic respiratory disease in adolescents. Advances in technology have made pulmonary function testing more available and, for some tests, easier to perform. Pulmonary function evaluation is used for diagnosis of pulmonary disease. Testing will identify abnormal physiologic processes that result in obstructive or restrictive pulmonary disease and, together with a complete history, physical examination, and other tests, help to determine the specific etiology. Pulmonary function measurement may be used to manage a patientís disease over time. Quantitative evaluation of the response to many specific therapies, such as asthma medications and environmental control, can only be achieved by measuring pulmonary function. Monitoring pulmonary toxicity of medications, such as chemotherapeutic agents, is also done by measuring pulmonary function. In many patients with chronic pulmonary disease, such as cystic fibrosis, the pulmonary function laboratory can be used to assess the patient's physiologic limitation.