a program officer in the Division of Lung Diseases at the National Heart, Lung, and

Blood Institute – NHLBI.

The main diagnostic test for COPD is called spirometry.

Spirometry is a lung function test that assesses how much air goes in and out of your lungs

and how fast it does so.

You should ask your health care provider to test you with spirometry if you are over 40

and you are a smoker or an ex-smoker; if you are out of breath or if you cough very frequently,

bringing up a lot of mucus; and generally, if you are concerned for your lung health

or if you are already diagnosed with a lung disease.

Spirometry is a very sensitive test and can catch a lung disease at its very early stages.

Hi, welcome to the pulmonary function lab.

I'm Mark and I'll be doing your spirometry today.

So, on this test we will ask you to exert yourself so I want you to be comfortable

And we don't want any clothing that is going to restrict your chest expansion or your performance.

So, if you want to take your jacket off and make yourself comfortable.

– Sure.

And I'll ask you to have a seat here.

So, we are primarily measuring the total amount of air you can blow out but also, we are measuring

how fast you can blow it out.

We are trying to measure that maximum amount you can blow out in the first second.

So after you get on the mouthpiece and put the nose clips on, I'll ask you to begin

with a few normal breaths and then at a certain point I'll ask you to take a fast deep breath

all the way in and I'll tell you to blast it out and I want you to immediately blow

it out as hard and as fast as you can and we have certain flow and volume criteria that

we have to meet so even after you blow it out and you feel like you may be empty I'll

still coach you to keep blowing, keep pushing, keep going, keep going.

And after a few seconds I'll ask you to take another fast, deep breath back in and

then I'll ask you to come off the mouthpiece.

So, let's go ahead and try it.

Go ahead and put the nose clips on; we want to be sure that you can't breathe through

your nose.

And this mouthpiece is like a snorkeling mouthpiece so I need your lips over the outside portion

of it and your teeth go behind it, teeth biting down on the two tabs.

And just want to be sure your tongue is not including the hole in the mouthpiece.

And just want you to begin with some normal breathing.

All right, and now take a fast, deep breath in and blast it out!

Keep blowing, keep blowing, keep going, you're doing great!

Keep going, keep pushing out, keep pushing, keep pushing.

Take a fast, deep breath all the way back in.

That's great you can come off that mouth piece and take those nose clips off.

As you can see, spirometry is an easy test to take.

Talk to your provider about spirometry.

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