At Parkway Family Physicians we perform lung function testing to see how well your lungs work. Spirometry is the first and most commonly performed lung function test we perform. This test measures how much and how quickly you can move air out of your lungs. You simply breathe into a mouthpiece attached to a recording device (Spirometer). The information collected by the Spirometer can be printed out on a chart called a Spirogram.

Lung Function Tests Are Done To:

• Determine the cause of breathing problems.
• Diagnose certain lung diseases, such as asthma, emphysema or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
• Evaluate a patient's lung function before surgery.
• Check the lung function of a person who is regularly exposed to substances such as asbestos that can damage the lungs.
• Check the effectiveness of treatment for lung diseases.