RE: to Ken R some info on PFT

[Guest guest]

Ken

thanks for the article

i printed it out

Pink Joyce IPF 3/06 Pennsylvania

Donate Life Listed 1/09

www.transplantfund.org---

Subject: RE: to Ken R some info on PFTTo: Breathe-Support Date: Monday, March 9, 2009, 5:11 PM

The Pulmonary Function Test (PFT) will have you breathing into a device that can quantify how well your lungs work. The values are not cut and dry and there can be a fairly significant variation in some of the metrics. The numbers are stated as percent of expected. Below is a table of “normal†values from the following website http://www.aafp. org/afp/20040301 /1107.html . The tests are generally repeated until three attempts have similar results. Tests are often repeated following a dose of albuterol (an asthma bronchodilator) to determine if there is an improvement in flow characteristics. I believe these tests to be more focused on COPD than they are on IPF but they are a good measure of the extent of scarring that has

occurred in IPF cases. DLCO testing is to see how effective the lungs are at transferring oxygen to the blood by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide that is transferred from the blood.

Ken Baker UIP/IPF 12/05 New Hampshire

Normal Values of Pulmonary Function Tests

Pulmonary function test

Normal value (95 percent confidence interval)

FEV1

80% to 120%

FVC

80% to 120%

Absolute FEV1/FVC ratio

Within 5% of the predicted ratio

TLC

80% to 120%

FRC

75% to 120%

RV

75% to 120%

Dlco

>60% to <120%

Dlco = diffusing capacity of lung for carbon monoxide.