Clinical Exercise Physiology Lab  (Call for an appointment at 787-758-2780)

The Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) Lab at our facility is the only exercise laboratory specialized in children available in Puerto Rico. Our referrals come from pediatricians, pediatric pulmonologists, pediatric cardiologists, Albergue Olimpico, athletic organizations and coaches in Puerto Rico. 

Our main objective is to identify factors causing exercise intolerance and exercise-induced dyspnea in children which creates great concern in parents and many athletes.  Since every human-being will have exercise limitation at some level of exercise, our role is to identify when that limitation is pathological.

In that case, with the CPET we try to identify between cardiac , pulmonary or musculoskeletal limitation.  Our subjects includes children with asthma, Cystic Fibrosis, Chronic Lung Disease, Obese, cardiac anomalies, dysnea to exercise or training level measurements. 

This non-invasive testing analyzes circulatory, respiratory and metabolic functions during incremental exercise on a stationary bike or treadmill. We include dry air in case of suspected exercise-induce bronchospasm to improve the sensitivity of the exercise challenge testing in our Lab. All subjects will have a baseline pulmonary function test at rest follow by incremental exercise testing either on a bike ergometer or treadmil depending on the objective of the study.

Measurements obtained during CPET include:

  • Metabolic rate
    • Oxygen consumption (VO2)
    • CO2 production (VCO2)
    • Respiratory exchange ratio
    • Anaerobic threshold
  • Cardiac function
    • Heart rate
    • EKG
  • Respiratory function
    • Minute ventilation (VE)
    • VE /VO2 and VE /VCO2
    • SaO2
    • PETCO2

Patients may be referred to the CPET Lab to:

  • Evaluate Exercise-Induced Dyspnea in patients with symptoms not consistent with EIB (exercise-induced bronchoconstriction)
  • Differentiate EIB from other causes of dyspnea (e.g., de-conditioning, physiological limitation, early restrictive abnormalities, etc.)
  • Evaluate EID in known asthmatics despite appropriate treatment
  • Evaluate fitness level