The week from Oct. 19 through Saturday marks National Respiratory Care Week, and James Burton, registered respiratory therapist and manager of Respiratory Care/Pulmonary Diagnostics, Patient Transport and Acute Dialysis at CMH Regional Health System/Clinton Memorial Hospital (CMH), has tips on a simple test that can diagnose lung problems in their earliest and most treatable stages.

“A pulmonary function test is a simple breathing test that measures airflow, volumes and capacities of the lungs,” said Burton. “The test is divided up into different maneuvers that are performed and each of them will provide different information to assist in diagnosing. Your physician may or may not order every maneuver to be done during your test.”

While the test has been around for years, it’s mainly been used in hospitals and pulmonary function laboratories to measure the progression of lung disease in people who are already diagnosed with a respiratory condition.

“Test Your Lungs — Know Your Numbers” is the battle cry of the National Lung Health Education Program (NLHEP), a group established several years ago with the support of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) and other national health organizations to promote greater use of pulmonary function testing.

The following are some facts regarding pulmonary function tests:

• Pulmonary function tests are painless.

• The test requires the patient to take deep breaths, exhale fully and other maneuvers to gather data for reporting.

• Spirometry (meaning the measuring of breath) is the most common of the maneuvers, specifically gathering data to measure the amount (volume) and/or speed (flow) of air that can be inhaled and exhaled.

• Medications, called bronchodilators and commonly known as Albuterol, Proventil and Xopenex are aimed at decreasing airway swelling and wheezing. Administering these medications may also benefit people with abnormal spirometry and they are given during the test (if ordered by the physician) to compare results before and after administration.

• Abnormal spirometry is more likely in people who smoke than people who do not.

• Maximum voluntary volume (MVV) measures the amount of air a person can breathe in and out in one minute.

• Lung volumes refer to physical differences in lung volume, while lung capacities represent different combinations of lung volumes, usually in relation to inhalation and exhalation. The average pair of human lungs can hold about 6 liters of air, but only a small amount of this capacity is used during normal breathing (tidal volume).

• The nitrogen washout method is a way of measuring dead space in the lung during a respiratory cycle.

• DLCO stands for the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, the test used to determine this parameter. DLCO is the extent to which oxygen passes from the air sacs (alveloi) of the lungs into the blood.

• Quitting smoking and/or not being around others who smoke is vital for anyone with abnormal pulmonary function results.

Wednesday is National Lung Health Day. Help celebrate this important event with your local respiratory therapists by having a potentially life-saving test — a pulmonary function test.

Anyone who thinks they are at risk for lung disease or have had recent, unexplained shortness of breath, should discuss it with their primary care physician or pulmonologist (lung specialist) and he or she may order a pulmonary function test. Respiratory therapists with the Respiratory Care at CMH perform these tests Monday through Friday.

For more information on spirometry and other pulmonary function testing maneuvers, visit the AARC’s consumer Web site, www.yourlunghealth.org; the NLHEP’s Web site, www.nlhep.org; or www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003853.htm - MedLine Plus, a Web site service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health.

EDITOR’S NOTE — James Burton is a registered respiratory therapist and manager of Respiratory Care/Pulmonary Diagnostics, Patient Transport and Acute Dialysis at CMH Regional Health System. Respiratory therapists are specially trained and licensed respiratory health care professionals assisting physicians in diagnosis, treatment, and management of respiratory disease. Healthy Outlook, a periodic offering of CMH, includes information from several resources including the writer’s professional experience.