CXR, Asthma bad, spirometry restricted, unhelpful hospital staff , plz help

Iv been having problems now for months, my spirometry results show restriction at 60ish and It should be about 80 my asthma nurse said so I was sent to the hospital today for a chest xray. I over heard the staff talking about me saying it was for restricted spirometry and the result was 10, one seemed unsure as to do another xray and one nurse stated oh shes had a few , 10 is ok , dont bother with anything else , and I was sent away.

Does anybody know what the ten is? or what the results are all based on, many thanks

Donna

[Asthma-girl]

I saw this information on the internet, hope it helps to explain things to you.

Normal spirometry

Normal readings vary, depending on your age, size, and sex. The range of normal readings is published on a chart, and doctors and nurses refer to this chart when they check your spirometry readings..

.Obstructive pattern on spirometry

This is typical of diseases that cause narrowed airways. The main conditions that cause narrowing of the airways and an obstructive pattern of spirometry are asthma and COPD. Spirometry can therefore help to diagnose these conditions.

If your airways are narrowed, then the amount of air that you can blow out quickly is reduced. So, your FEV1 is reduced and the ratio of FEV1/FVC is lower than normal. As a rule, you are likely to have a disease that causes narrowed airways if:.

•your FEV1 is less than 80% of the predicted value for your age, sex and size, or

•your FEV1/FVC ratio is 0.7 or less.

However, with narrowed airways, the total capacity of your lungs is often normal or only mildly reduced. So, with an obstructive pattern, the FVC is often normal or near normal.

Spirometry can also help to assess if treatment (for example inhalers) opens up the airways. The spirometry readings will improve if the narrowed airways become wider after medication. This is called reversibility (see later for more details). Generally, asthma has more of a reversible element to the airways obstruction, compared with COPD. However, COPD is graded according to severity, in terms of the FEV1 measurement after a bronchodilator medication has been given to open up the airways. This response is not as big as that seen in asthma. As a guide, the following values help to diagnose COPD and its severity:.

•Mild COPD - FEV1 is 80% or more of the predicted value. This effectively means that someone with mild COPD can have normal spirometry after bronchodilator medication.

•Moderate COPD - FEV1 is 50-79% of the predicted value after a bronchodilator.

•Severe COPD - FEV1 is 30-49% of the predicted value after a bronchodilator.

•Very severe COPD - FEV1 is less than 30% of the predicted value after a bronchodilator.

.Restrictive pattern on spirometry

With a restrictive spirometry pattern your FVC is less than the predicted value for your age, sex and size. This is caused by various conditions that affect the lung tissue itself, or affect the capacity of the lungs to expand and hold a normal amount of air. Conditions that cause fibrosis or scarring of the lungs give restrictive patterns on spirometry. Some physical deformities that restrict the expansion of the lungs can also cause a restrictive defect. Your FEV1 is also reduced but this is in proportion to the reduced FVC. So, with a restrictive pattern the ratio of FEV1/FVC is normal..

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hey, not sure if i am of any help at all really.. i am similar spirometry restriction of what i could do anyways!! predicted 84 and managed 50 :S

but not sure what the 10 is in relation to, FEV? LV? or other parts of the tests looking at in the spirometry as it certainly not part of looking at CXR interpretation!!

when is your next appt with nurse/dr as they need to clarify this for you and explain what it means in relation to treatment for you.

keep well xx

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People can also have restricted spirometry if they are obese, or wearing tight clothes, all people with restricted spirometry need to have a chest x-ray.x