confused

Hi all,

I was hoping someone could explain to me in simple terms what this means. It was written on my daughters report from her consultant.

FEV1 at 2.3 litres was 71% predicted, FVC at 2.83 litres was 87% predicted. The flow volume loop was a little scooped consistant with obstructive airways disease.

Thanks in advance for your help

Nic

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I'm sure we'll get some confirmation from the medical professionals soon, but this is what I make of it:

The two abbreviations are to do with spirometry readings:

FEV1 =Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second

FVC = Forced Vital Capacity

They're both readings taken from your daughter when she foreces a breath out as fast as she can (a bit like Peak flow readings), the volumes given are then the lung capacity, and how that compared to what the doctors predicted they should be based on her size, weight and age.

The second sentence describes (I think) the graph that the spirometer produces on its print-out. I believe the graph is generally a curve-shape.

I hope that helps!

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Hi mellers,

See my answer to the thread 'Spirometry test' in the General Forum for a detailed explanation of what these numbers mean.

Basically, though, the Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) at 87% is within normal range (which is what you'd expect in most asthma) and the Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second (FEV1) is slightly low. The FEV1/FVC ratio comes out at 81% which is actually within normal range. Overall, it's suggestive of a mild degree of airflow obstruction, ie, mild narrowing of the tubes, but overall, not too bad.

All the resullts have to be taken in the context of what sort of a day your daughter was having on that day, what medication she had taken, and how she was clinically, and they only really present a snap-shot of how her lungs were behaving at that point in time. It's perfectly possible for severe asthmatics to have only slight changes in spirometry on a good day, or even normal spirometry, and it's also possible for mild asthmatics to have quite bad spirometry on occasion.

Hope this helps, but for a proper explanation, do take a look at the other post.

Take care,

Em H