Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by irreversible airflow limitation as a result of small airway disease and parenchymal destruction (emphysema), most commonly related…
Community-Acquired Pneumonia Introduction Internationally, community-acquired pneumonia is a common problem both for community and hospital physicians. It occurs with an annual incidence of about 5-11 per 1,000 adult population and…
Pneumonia in the Severely Immunocompromised Patient Introduction Lung infection in patients with suppressed or impaired immune function is a common clinical problem. The majority of these patients have relatively impaired…
Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia Introduction Pneumonia is one of the commonest of the ‘nosocomial infections’, that is, infections which are acquired by patients as a result of their stay in hospital. The…
Chapter 4Carbon monoxide transfer factor: single breath method The carbon monoxide transfer factor (TLCO) measurement is one of the more physiologically and technically complex tests performed in the respiratory function…
Chapter 2Spirometry Spirometry is probably the most commonly performed lung function test. Spirometry measures flow and volume components of ventilatory function and is measured under relaxed or forced conditions. Forced…
Chapter 3Static lung volumes Static lung volumes can be measured in the lung function laboratory by the following methods: Whole body plethysmography Multiple breath washout method Helium dilution method Single…
Chapter 8When the results do not fit the rules As you become more proficient at interpretation and report writing, and increase the volume of reports you are writing, you will…
Chapter 7The importance of quality tests Assessment of test quality is an essential step in the interpretation strategy. A suboptimal quality result reported as a good quality result may result…
Chapter 5Tests of respiratory muscle strength Respiratory muscle strength can be measured via a variety of techniques of varying technical difficulty and degrees of invasiveness (1). This chapter discusses the…
