Abstract

Doody Rating :4 stars : The primary target audiences for this volume are pulmonologists, allergists, graduate students, thoracic surgeons, and their assistants, in training and in practice, who evaluate and treat patients who have or may have respiratory damage or disease. Unique insights into the interpretation of spirometric, lung volume, diffusing capacity, and other measurements commonly made in pulmonary function laboratories. Normal values are dependent on gender, age, and body size. Review of the best available reference equations and selection of the optimal equations, not only for the “White” populations but also, for the first time, for the non-caucasian populations of the world. New ways to assess the effectiveness of aerosol bronchodilator drugs on obstructive airways disease in the laboratory, since current practices fail to identify nearly half of the statistically significant responders. New ways of interpreting spirometric values of cigarette smokers to better identify and inform those who, though still within the wide range of normal, are at greater risk. Ten interesting cases to guide interpreting pulmonary function tests.