Establishing a Pediatric Pulmonary Function Laboratory

The project to establish a paediatric lung function laboratory aims to provide advanced diagnostic services for the respiratory function of children with tumours, within King Fahad National Centre for Children's Cancer. The laboratory will enable the medical team to assess lung function precisely, helping to improve the quality of care and to speed up the right treatment decisions.

• There is no specialist paediatric lung function laboratory at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, which adversely affects the quality of diagnosis and the medical care provided.

• Adult lung function equipment is currently used, which is not designed for children — making the present testing environment unsuitable for them and causing anxiety and discomfort during tests.

• Meeting children's particular needs during lung function testing is essential to improving diagnostic accuracy and treatment effectiveness.

• Child patients currently have to travel more than 50 minutes to the main hospital for basic tests, causing hardship and exhaustion for them and their families.

• A specialist laboratory will provide a child-friendly environment, dedicated equipment and trained staff, improving the patient experience and, God willing, treatment outcomes.

• Delivering pulmonary function testing (PFT) for children with tumours precisely and safely.

• Supporting treatment plans and regularly monitoring how patients' respiratory condition develops.

• Reducing the need to refer patients to outside centres for tests.

• Improving the quality of diagnosis and the speed of medical decisions within the Centre.

• Integrating test results with the electronic health system (ICIS) to keep medical information joined up.

• Providing a child-friendly environment that puts children at ease during testing.

• Training and qualifying medical and technical staff in the latest lung function testing techniques.

• Ensuring the highest safety and quality standards in operation and maintenance.

• Precise, rapid diagnosis:
  high-accuracy lung function tests that support precise and timely medical decisions.

• Patient comfort and safety:
  built on the Vyntus ONE system, designed to reduce tension and anxiety in children during testing.

• Full electronic integration:
  test results link directly to the ICIS system, ensuring unified, easily accessible medical records.

• Easy, effective maintenance:
  the equipment is designed to be easy to clean and sterilise without complex dismantling or intensive servicing.

• High operational efficiency:
  the equipment needs no daily calibration, reducing downtime and increasing the number of daily tests.

• Friendly to medical staff:
  a simple interface and intelligent software make tests easier to run and results easier to interpret.

• Better quality of care:
  reliable data that helps improve the treatment plan and clinical outcomes.

• Lower long-term costs:
  through fewer external referrals and precise, rapid in-house testing.

• Meeting safety standards:
  the use of MicroGard II filters protects both patients and the medical team.

• Ready for expansion:
  the equipment's modular design allows further tests and functions to be added as needed.

• Children with tumours receiving treatment at King Fahad National Centre for Children's Cancer.

• Patients with respiratory symptoms or complications related to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

• Children referred from other specialist clinics within the Centre (such as intensive care, respiratory medicine and critical care).

• Patients needing regular follow-up lung function tests as part of their treatment plan and ongoing assessment.

King Fahad National Centre for Children's Cancer – Riyadh.

Total value of the project: SAR 550,000.