Pulmonary function testing in children's interstitial lung disease.

Pulmonary function testing in children's interstitial lung disease. Eur Respir Rev. 2020 Sep 30;29(157): Authors: Ring AM, Carlens J, Bush A, Castillo-Corullón S, Fasola S, Gaboli MP, Griese M, Koucky V, La Grutta S, Lombardi E, Proesmans M, Schwerk N, Snijders D, Nielsen KG, Buchvald F Abstract The use of pulmonary function tests (PFTs) has been widely described in airway diseases like asthma and cystic fibrosis, but for children's interstitial lung disease (chILD), which encompasses a broad spectrum of pathologies, the usefulness of PFTs is still undetermined, despite widespread use in adult interstitial lung disease. A literature review was initiated by the COST/Enter chILD working group aiming to describe published studies, to identify gaps in knowledge and to propose future research goals in regard to spirometry, whole-body plethysmography, infant and pre-school PFTs, measurement of diffusing capacity, multiple breath washout and cardiopulmonary exercise tests in chILD. The search revealed a limited number of papers published in the past three decades, of which the majority were descriptive and did not report pulmonary function as the main outcome.PFTs may be useful in different stages of management of children with suspected or confirmed chILD, but the chILD spectrum is diverse and includes a heterogeneous patient group in all ages. Research studies in well-defined patient cohorts are needed to establish which PFT and outcomes...
Source: Respiratory Care - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Eur Respir Rev Source Type: research