Category pftblog

Although the technology used to perform the single-breath DLCO test has improved since it was first developed in the 1950’s the essential concepts and equations have not changed significantly…

I have been researching different pulmonary function topics for quite a few years. The medical libraries I’ve frequented were, of course, originally all paper-based and to be able to find an …

Just when we thought it was safe to go back in the water, we’ve run into another N2 washout-related problem. Although it probably affects the TLC and RV calculations in a minor way, it was ac…

Re-breathing DLCO may not be well known because this technique has not been used in routine clinical testing. It has instead been primarily used to research diffusing capacity during exercise becau…

After the tests themselves, the second most important thing that a Pulmonary Function Lab needs to do is to report results. Like a tree falling in the woods, if a report hasn’t gotten in fron…

Recently I have been reviewing a lot of early pulmonary function research. I’m not feeling nostalgic but I think that re-visiting some of the older methods and technology may be interesting. …

Nitrogen washout lung volumes are still relatively new to my PFT Lab. The number of problems we’ve encountered has decreased substantially but we are still learning some of the idiosyncrasies…

Recently I was reading the blog of someone who teaches Pulmonary Function testing and they stated: “…in emphysema and air trapping, the VTG (thoracic gas volume) will be higher than a FRC (fu…

The FEV1/FVC ratio is used to estimate the presence and degree of airway obstruction. For well over thirty years my lab has used an FEV1/FVC ratio of 95% of predicted as the cutoff for normalcy. Th…

I have been taking a close look at the raw data from all lung volume tests lately in large part because N2 washouts are still relatively new to my PFT Lab and we’re continuing to learn from o…