Interpreting Lung Function Test Report

[gumleafau]

My wife had a lung function test few days ago, is anybody can help me interpreting the report please!
My wife is 67 years old, weight 39kg and 1.47cm tall, with syringomyelia and scoliosis.
She is only a small person!
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[Matt00926]

Note: I am not an expert or medical professional. But I have done multiple PFTs and have scoliosis myself.


It seems that they weren't able to get much reliable data at all. You can see at the bottom they infer it's because the patient couldn't perform the tests as instructed. They are not easy - breathe in, hold a breathe, breathe in on top of that breath, blow out as hard as you can, etc,. It's a full workout. 

It's just as likely, if not more so, that the technician didn't give clear enough instructions or was not motivating enough - you REALLY have to breathe in and blow hard into the tube to get worthwhile results. The technician is basically supposed to be your personal trainer and get you to do your best so that they have good data. The good ones are loud and very motivating, and give clear and encouraging instruction. They are simply making interpretations on a weak effort test, but it's the only test run that led to recordable results. 

You can see they made zero notations about airway issues - no mention of obstructive or restrictive airway defects. The only value that is substantially less than the predicted value (what a typical value for a healthy person should be based on age, height & weight)is the DLCO. I don't know much about that value. Whether it's a reality or not is something you would have to ask the physician interpreting the data. It simply could be data from a low effort, but at least recordable, set of data. 

They estimate the forced vital capacity (FVC) to be 78% of predicted, which makes sense since your wife probably has minor a restrictive defect because of the scoliosis. Scoliosis can make it difficult for the lungs to expand fully, because of the distorted chest wall. 78% FVC of predicted is not that worrisome IMHO, especially because of her age. It's estimated that any human being loses about 1-2% a year of their vital capacity (total volume) as they age. The predicted FVC value changes in scale with age as well. When your FVC predicted for age is say less than 50% of predicted, that's when they start looking at bi-level therapy and other treatments based on the condition at hand.

[gumleafau]

Hi Matt00926! Thanks you for sharing your experience with the lung function test!

I didn't know that the the lung function test was poorly done! My wife did told me that she may failed a few
them, but I don't know what is she referring to! But I do noticed the notes at the bottom of the report, 
that is the reason I put it on the forum, and hopefully someone can explain it to me!

The sleep doctor reviewed the report, but all we told that it is in the lower range of the normal scale!

I log into the following website, do you know how to get into the forum on the site for discussion?
https://www.forumhealthcentre.nhs.uk/you...spirometry

I am now trying to understand a lung function test but reviewing some videos on the topic in Youtube!

[Matt00926]

Has she had a recent chest x-ray? I suppose they could check an image of the lungs since she was a smoker in the past. Has she had bracing and/or surgery for the scoliosis?

In your other longer thread, as discussed, there is evidence that your wife had a normal ABG, and her tidal volume shows that she is able to ventilate adequately while asleep with minimal pressure support. Those are all good signs that alveolar hypoventilation hasn't manifested yet.

One thing you could do is get a pulse oximeter and see what her oxygen saturation is while sitting around, and also while on a walk/moving around. Sometimes the oxygen saturation goes down when active if someone has a lung or heart problem, and that's something the doctor would need to know.

[gumleafau]

Hello Matt00926!

My wife is a non smoker, and she only aware of the symptoms of breathless and scoliosis at high school!

She recently had an x-ray in the chest, the lung field is clear and no consolidation or collapse!

I will try later and asking her to put the pulse oximeter on during the day, to check her oxygen saturation 
while sitting around. 

I will keep you posted!

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[Matt00926]

You mentioned she became aware of symptoms of breathlessness in high school. That was the same for me.

Has she had any braces or surgery for the scoliosis? If her heart is visible on x-ray and normal size, that is good because that means the chest wall is not majorly distorted and not "squishing" her heart and lungs.

Make sure you check her pulse ox both sitting on the couch and also walking around at a normal pace. The walking around part is the most valuable data.