Question

During a routine annual physical exam, a 57 year-old man is given a normal pulmonary function test. He has never smoked but had a possible brief exposure to asbestos in his youth. The results of his pulmonary function test are below including the flow-volume loop. The predicted values in the table below are the values that would be expected in a man of his age, height, weight etc. They are to be considered normal values for this individual. In the flow-volume loop the black circles represent the predicted values while the two lines represent two separate tests given several minutes apart.

4. During a routine annual physical exam, a 57 year-old man is given a normal pulmonary function test. He has never smoked but had a possible brief exposure to asbestos in his youth. The results of his pulmonary function test are below including the flow-volume loop. The predicted values in the table below are the values that would be expected in a man of his age, height weight etc. They are to be considered normal values for this individual. In the flow-volume loop the black circles represent the predicted values while the two lines represent two separate tests given several minutes apart. Test FVC (litres) FEV1 (litres) FEV1/FVC FRC (litres) RV (litres) TLC (litres) DLCO Actual Value 4.39 3.30 73 3.17 2.44 6. 83 29.14 Predicted Value % of Predicted Value 4.32 102 3.37 98 78 32598 232 1 06 .64 103 31.28 93 6 4a. What is Duco? What does it test/measure? (1 mark) 4b. Based on these test results, what is your diagnosis of this patient's lung function? How, with respect to the data that is given, did you come to this conclusion? Note, you don't need to discuss all of the variables to support your conclusion but you should recognize that there are some key ones that should be mentioned. (4 marks)

Answer 1

4a. THe Dlco is the DIffusion capacity of carbon monoxide. It basically measures the ability of the lung to transfer the gas molecules into the haemoglobin of the red blood cells.

4b. There is no much variation in the values except for two values which are Dlco and FVC.

The Dlco is comparatively less when compared to the predicted value which implies Pulmonary hypertension /anemia/emphysema

The low values of FVC indicate, something is restricting your normal breathing process. This could lead to the conclusion that the person may be suffering from obstructive lung diseases like asthma, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, etc