Diagnostic tests for COPD include a medical and personal history, physical exam, various pulmonary function tests, imaging tests, blood tests and sputum tests. These can not only help diagnose COPD, but also determine the severity of the disease.
In the last post, I discussed COPD and asthma, and how to distinguish them. I introduced the topic of pulmonary function tests, or PFTs. Today, I would like to discuss PFTs in more detail. PFTs allow health care professionals to make the diagnosis of lung disease and to judge how severe it is. PFTs evaluate how well air can flow into and out…
jayne commented on Pulmonary function tests and lung age:… i had one aged 37 and was given a lung age of 69 and ive never smoked but…
ATsai, Editor, posted Earlier COPD Diagnosis? A HealthCentral… A study published in Respiration has found that a protein--called…
Subrata commented on 'Is That Good?' Understanding Vital… I think this post will be very useful to patients with COPD. As…
Kathi MacNaughton, Health Pro, posted Is There an At Home Spirometer in Your… One of the ways a doctor can decide if you have COPD is to perform lung…