How Do You Know How Old Your Lungs Are
Spirometry is a uncomplicated test used to aid diagnose and monitor certain lung conditions by measuring how much air you tin can exhale out in 1 forced jiff.
Information technology's carried out using a device called a spirometer, which is a small machine attached by a cable to a mouthpiece.
Spirometry may exist performed by a nurse or doctor at your GP surgery, or it may be carried out during a brusk visit to a hospital or dispensary.
Why spirometry is carried out
Spirometry can be used to assistance diagnose a lung status if y'all accept symptoms, or if your md feels you're at an increased risk of developing a particular lung condition.
For case, spirometry may be recommended if you lot have a persistent cough or breathlessness, or if you're over 35 and smoke.
Atmospheric condition that tin can exist picked upward and monitored using spirometry include:
- asthma – a long-term status where the airways go periodically inflamed (swollen) and narrowed
- chronic obstructive pulmonary affliction (COPD) – a group of lung weather condition where the airways become narrowed
- cystic fibrosis – a genetic condition where the lungs and digestive organization become clogged with thick, sticky mucus
- pulmonary fibrosis – scarring of the lungs
If you've already been diagnosed with 1 of these conditions, spirometry may be carried out to check the severity of the condition or run into how you lot're responding to treatment.
Spirometry is as well a standard examination for people existence considered for surgery, or to cheque the general health of people who have other atmospheric condition, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Preparing for the test
You'll be told most anything you need to do to fix for the exam.
If you utilize bronchodilators (medicines, usually inhaled, that aid relax and widen your airways), you may need to stop using it beforehand.
You should also avoid smoking for 24 hours earlier the test, and avert drinking alcohol, strenuous exercise or eating large meals for a few hours beforehand.
Information technology's best to wear loose, comfortable wear on the day of the test.
What happens during a spirometry test
You'll be seated during the test and a soft clip will exist placed on your nose to end air escaping from it.
The tester will explain what yous demand to do, and y'all may be asked to have a few do attempts beginning.
When you're prepare for the test, yous'll be asked to:
- inhale fully, and so your lungs are completely filled with air
- shut your lips tightly around the mouthpiece
- exhale as chop-chop and forcefully equally you tin, making sure you lot empty your lungs fully
This will usually demand to be repeated at to the lowest degree three times to ensure a reliable effect.
Sometimes, the test may need to be repeated around 15 minutes after taking some inhaled bronchodilator medicine.
This can bear witness if y'all have a lung condition that responds to these medicines.
Overall, your appointment should last around 30 to xc minutes. You'll be able to get home soon after the tests have finished and return to your normal activities.
Your results
The person carrying out the test won't unremarkably be able to give yous your results immediately.
The results volition need to be looked at by a specialist kickoff and volition and then be sent to the doctor who referred you for the test, who will talk over them with you a few days after.
A spirometer measures the amount of air you tin breathe out in one 2nd and the total volume of air yous can exhale in one forced breath.
These measurements will be compared with a normal outcome for someone of your age, height and sex, which will help prove if your lungs aren't working properly.
The measurements will too show whether whatsoever problem with your lungs is "obstructive", "restrictive", or a combination of the two:
- obstructive airways affliction – where your ability to breathe out quickly is afflicted by narrowing of the airways, but the amount of air you can concur in your lungs is normal (such as in asthma or COPD)
- restrictive lung disease – where the amount of air y'all tin can exhale in is reduced because your lungs are unable to fully expand (such as in pulmonary fibrosis).
Risks and side effects
Spirometry is a straightforward examination and is generally considered very safe. Some people may experience dizzy, faint, shaky, sick or tired for a short menstruation afterwards.
Most people are able to have a spirometry exam safely. But the test increases the pressure level inside your head, chest, tum and eyes as you breathe out, so it may need to exist delayed or avoided if you accept a condition that could exist fabricated worse past this.
For instance, spirometry may not be safety if you have, or accept recently had, unstable angina, a eye assault, uncontrolled loftier blood force per unit area, or an operation to your caput, breast, stomach or eyes.
Page last reviewed: 18 Baronial 2021
Adjacent review due: 18 Baronial 2024
Source: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/spirometry/
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