Functional Respiratory Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: The Role of Pulmonary Function Test Laboratories

Laura Gochicoa-Rangel, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), Mexico City, Mexico
Luis Torre-Bouscoulet, Department of Respiratory Physiology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias Ismael Cosío Villegas and Laboratorio de Función Pulmonar S de RL, Mexico City, Mexico
Antonio Salles Rojas, Department of Respiratory Physiology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias "Ismael Cosío Villegas", Mexico City, Mexico
Carlos Guzmán-Valderrábano, Department of Respiratory Physiology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias "Ismael Cosío Villegas", Mexico City, Mexico
Mónica Silva-Cerón, Department of Respiratory Physiology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias "Ismael Cosío Villegas", Mexico City, Mexico
Rosaura E. Benítez-Pérez, Department of Continuous Education, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias "Ismael Cosío Villegas", Mexico City, Mexico
Isabel Salas-Escamilla, National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), Mexico City, Mexico
Wilmer Madrid-Mejía, Department of Respiratory Physiology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias "Ismael Cosío Villegas", Mexico City, Mexico
Juan M. Grosso-Espinosa, Laboratory of Pulmonary Function Tests, Instituto de Desarrollo e Innovación en Fisiología Respiratoria, Mexico City, Mexico

The pandemic character of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) requires strategy changes designed to guarantee the safety of patients and health-care professionals. We are greatly concerned by the limitations in the operation of pulmonary function test (PFT) laboratories, since there is a high risk of disease progression in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases, and we are now faced by the influx of a new group of individuals in the recovery phase of post-COVID-19-syndrome that requires evaluation and follow-up of their respiratory function. To reestablish the operation of PFT laboratories limiting the risk of cross-contamination, we herein present the consensus reached by a group of experts in respiratory physiology, most of whom work in PFT laboratories in several Latin American countries, on the applicable ecommendations for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pneumonia survivors when undergoing PFT. We present the safety and hygiene measures that must be adopted in laboratories or centers where PFT is conducted in adults and/or children. These recommendations answer the following questions: which PFT is most recommended in subjects that have recovered from COVID-19; what quality control and safety measures should PFT laboratories implement during this pandemic? And how should we approach non-COVID-19 patients requiring PFT?.

Keywords: Pulmonary function tests. Pulmonary function test laboratories. Quality and safety measures. COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2.