I had a basic spirometry test at the hospital a few days ago and have just received a letter through the post with the results. It says I have FEV1 of 2.4 and a FVC of 2.35.
I also blow 500 on the peak flow meter too with a personal device I have at home.
Can someone please explain what this means in terms of stage and severity of my COPD?
What does 'he was not clubbed' mean also? I wish doctors would talk in English so we could understand.
I am a male, 35 years old and 5 foot 7 (67 inches) tall if that helps.
Much appreciated and thank you for reading.
George
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ggeorgiou
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Clubbed fingers sometimes goes hand in hand with copd . It's a thickening of the fingertips which was probably observed when they put the pulse oximeter on you during examination. But not everyone gets it x
"an abnormal enlargement of the distal phalanges with a flattening of the curvature of the nail margin at the cuticle, where the nail meets the cuticle. It usually is associated with cyanotic heart disease or advanced chronic pulmonary disease but sometimes occurs with biliary cirrhosis, colitis, chronic dysentery, thyrotoxicosis, and sickle cell anemia. Clubbing occurs in all the digits but is most easily seen in the fingers"
I think you will have to wait for the full lung function study. I'm no expert but don't think I have ever seen an FEV1 that is higher that the FVC. FEV1 is the forced expiratory volume in one second, so in other words the amount of air blown out in the first second of a forced blow. The FVC is the forced vital capacity or the amount of total air you can blow out even if it takes 15 or more seconds, as an example, so blowing out more in the first second than you blow out in total doesn't seem to make sense, but as I said I am not a doctor and there may be an explanation. A full lung function study should give you all of your results as well as what would be expected by someone of similar age, height, and ethnicity with no lung condition or disease. You should ask for a copy of the results when you have the full lung function study, and if you post the results here there is usually someone that can help you interpret then, but of course none of us are doctors so the best person to explain the results would be your doctor.
Sometimes doctors don't really take the time to explain the results adequately so as I said feel free to post the results if you have questions that are not answered and am sure there are some here that can help explain any numbers you are not clear on or sure of.
Unlikely anybody on here can explain those results, they are not consistent with COPD; whoever wrote the letter (consultant) wants more tests to help understand them.
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