In normal subjects and patients with airway obstruction, flows during a forced vital capacity (FVC) manoeuvre are higher after a fast inspiration without an end-inspiratory pause (manoeuvre 1) as compared to a slow inspiration with an end-expiratory pause of approximately 5 s (manoeuvre 2). In this study, we investigated the influence of these manoeuvres on maximal expiratory volume-time and fl...

OBJECTIVE To clarify whether, in healthy individuals, practicing yoga can modify maximal inspiratory pressure and spirometric indices when compared with the practice of aerobic exercise. MEYHODS: A controlled clinical trial. A total of 31 healthy volunteers were allocated to practice aerobic exercise (n = 15) or to practice yoga (n = 16). Those in the first group served as controls and engaged ...

Twenty eight patients with bronchial carcinoma were studied before pneumonectomy. Measurement of spirometric indices, static lung volumes, transfer factor (TLCO), and transfer coefficient (KCO) was undertaken before and four months after pneumonectomy. Fourteen of the patients also performed a symptom limited progressive exercise test on a cycle ergometer before and four months after pneumonect...

To determine the value of simple spirometric measurements in the diagnostic assessment of breathless patients, doctors requesting such tests were asked to predict the likely ventilatory abnormality, expressing these pretest predictions as probabilities. Comparison of these pretest predictions with the test results allowed an analysis of the doctors' ability to identify lung function abnormaliti...

The severity of pulmonary hypertension was evaluated by right cardiac catheterization in 89 patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, both at rest and during maximum treadmill exercise. Thirty-one patients were found to have pulmonary hypertension at rest, defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 20 mm Hg or more. Although the remaining 58 patients had normal mean pulm...