So, recently I was given a PFT and I am curious what the forum thinks.
The read is "A mild obstructive lung disease, not improved with inhaled bronchodilators".
I have no, or very mild SOB but I do have a a chronic and mostly dry cough... Oh, I do not smoke, never have!
I appreciate any insight.
Spirometry Ref Pre Post
FVC 5.83 7.59 7.61
FEV1 4.76 5.00 5.26
FEV1/FVC 81% 66% 69%
FEF 25-75% 4.84 3.22 4.65
FEF 50% 5.78 4.28 4.65
FEF 75% 2.38 1.42 1.54
Just a thought.
Aspergilli are some of the most common environmental molds, frequently found in decaying plant matter, such as compost heaps. Inside, it's found in air conditioning and heating ducts, insulation, and even on some food and spices. Most strains of this common mold are not dangerous, but a few can cause serious illness when their spores are inhaled by people who have weakened immune systems, as is the case with asthma or underlying lung disease. Or, healthier individuals can be at risk from long-term exposure to mold quietly growing in water-damaged buildings.
Infections caused by Aspergillus are called aspergillosis, which is actually a group of illnesses ranging from mild to severe lung infections, or even whole-body infections. The most serious type of aspergillosis is invasive aspergillosis, which is when the mold invades your blood vessels and the spreads to the rest of your body.
Aspergillus allergy can result in fever, productive cough, and worsening asthma.
With aspergillosis, you can actually grow a "fungal ball" in your lungs, a tangled ball of fungal fiber called aspergilloma. Aspergilloma can lead to coughing up blood (hemoptysis), wheezing, shortness of breath, fatigue, and weight loss. According to the Mayo Clinic, if this type of fungal infection becomes very severe, it can spread to your brain, heart, kidneys, or skin. You can also develop pneumonia.
Thank you! I will look into that.
I had a chest xray and it came back normal. All of this is wierd, I have nothing in my history to suggest that COPD would be likely...
Hi there AEmedic
I have a query on the figures - are they correct? I ask because your FVC figures are very large.
FVC varies by age, height and sex. So if you were say 30 years old and a man, I think your figures would make you about 7 feet tall. If you were a woman you would be even taller, that would make you nearly 8 feet tall.....
So before you can interpret these, we'd need to account for age, sex and height.
Cheers
dr_hits
Those number are correct... I am 6'2", 43 years old and male.
I just had another PFT and the numbers vary a bit. The PFTs are a number of months apart.
Spirometry Ref Pre Post
FVC 5.80 7.09 7.16
FEV1 4.73 4.95 5.10
FEV1/FVC 81% 70% 71%
FEF 25-75% 4.81 3.38 3.65
FEF 50% 5.74 4.47 4.83
FEF 75% 2.36 1.35 1.61
By the way, my TLC was 10.40 then and 9.63 now...