Pulmonary function tests were performed at rest and following blood transfusion on 17 patients with thalassemia major. At rest, diffusion capacity was significantly reduced (mean of 57 percent), and forced vital capacity was mildly reduced (mean of 85 percent). In two of the patients, arterial oxygen tension was low. Other pulmonary function results were in the normal range. Following blood tra...

D uring the past 50 yrs, the forced expiratory manoeuvre has formed the basis for the most extensively used lung function test. Although ''spirometry'' means measurement of breath and, therefore, should include all kinds of measurements related to breathing, it is now almost a convention that spirometry is synonymous with measurements involving a forced vital capacity (FVC). In his historical n...

Abreviations: COPD: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; PEP: Positive Expiratory Pressure; CF: Cystic Fibrosis; Log G*: Mucus Impedance; MCI: Mucociliary Clearance Index; CCI: Cough Clearance Index; PDPV: Postural Drainage, Percussion, and Vibration; IPV: Intrapulmonary Percussive Ventilation; ACBT: Active Cycle Breathing Technique; HFCWC: High Frequency Chest Wall Compression; ELTGOL: Slow ...

There are a number of conflicting reports describing the clinical outcomes of using N-acetylcysteine for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We have, therefore, performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of N-acetylcysteine, compared with control, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.Original controlled clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of N-acetylcystein...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the time-courses of lung function and respiratory muscle pressure generating capacity after spinal cord injury. DESIGN Multi-centre, prospective cohort study. SUBJECTS One hundred and nine subjects with recent, motor complete spinal cord injury. METHODS Lung function and respiratory muscle pressure generating capacity were measured at first mobilization, at discha...

The present study aims to derive guidelines that identify patients for whom spirometry can reliably predict a reduced total lung capacity (TLC). A total of 12,693 lung function tests were analysed on Caucasian subjects, aged 18-70 yrs. Restriction was defined as a reduced TLC. Lower limits of normal (LLN) for TLC were obtained from the European Respiratory Society recommended reference equation...

New reference value studies for spirometry are commonly compared to existing reference value studies using average data derived from existing reference equations. Such comparisons are inherently flawed because they do not account for differences in distributions of the independent and dependent variables and they do not have identical methodologies. This study was undertaken 1) to derive refere...

Forty-five patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were studied to compare the acute effects of ipratropium bromide (60 µg), salbutamol (300 µg) and placebo (3 puffs) on the forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV 1) and forced vital capacity (PVC). Ipratropium bromide produced a significantly greater improvement than salbutamol in both FEV1 and FVC at 15,60 and 180 minutes afte...

Forced expiratory flow (FEF) at low lung volumes are supposed to be better at detecting lung-function impairment in asthmatic children than a forced volume. The aim of this study was to examine whether FEF results could modify the interpretation of baseline and post-bronchodilator spirometry in asthmatic schoolchildren in whom forced expiratory volumes are within the normal range. Spirometry, w...

Introduction The basic 4 volumes do not overlap each other: tidal volume, inspiratory and expiratory reserve volumes and residual volume. On the other hand, lung capacities include two or more volumes: inspiratory capacity, vital capacity, functional residual capacity and total lung capacity. Spirographic examination of lung functions is characterized by the following main changes: in the obstr...