How Is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Detected?
Researchers are still looking for accurate methods to predict a person’s chances of developing airway obstruction. None of the current ways used to diagnose COPD detects the disease before irreversible lung damage occurs. While many measures of lung function have been developed, those most commonly used determine: 1) air-containing volume of the lung (lung volume), 2) the ability to move air into and out of the lung, 3) the rate at which gases diffuse between the lung and blood, and 4) blood levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Lung volumes are measured by breathing into and out of a device called a spirometer. Some types of spirometers are very simple mechanical devices which record volume changes as air is added to or removed from them. Other kinds are more sophisticated and use various types of electronic equipment to determine and record the volume of air moved into and out of the lungs. The three volume measures most relevant to COPD are forced vital capacity (FVC), residual volum
