Pulmonary Function Testing Cases
The following cases are designed to help you learn how to interpret pulmonary function tests. Each case contains a short clinical scenario and the pulmonary function tests for that patient. For each case, you should attempt to
- describe the pattern of abnormality, if one is present,
- grade the severity of the abnormality and
- generate a differential diagnosis for the observed abnormality.
The cases have been provided by Kenneth Steinberg, MD, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
- Case 1>> A 65 year-old man undergoes pulmonary function testing as part of a routine health-screening test.
- Case 2>> A 54 year-old man presents to his primary care provider with dyspnea and a cough.
- Case 3>> A 60 year-old man presents to his primary care provider with complaints of increasing dyspnea on exertion.
- Case 4>> A 25 year-old man presents to his physician with complaints of dyspnea and wheezing.
- Case 5>> A 41 year-old woman presents to the General Internal Medicine Clinic at Harborview Medical Center complaining of dyspnea with mild exertion.
- Case 6>> A 30 year-old woman presents for evaluation of dyspnea on exertion which has been present for 2 months.
- Case 7>> A 73 year-old man presents with progressive dyspnea on exertion over the past one year.
- Case 8>> A 64 year-old woman presents with complaints of dyspnea and orthopnea. She is a life-long non-smoker.
- Case 9>> A 35 year-old previously healthy man presents with dyspnea, fevers, chills and night sweats for the past 2 months.
- Case 10>> A 53 year-old woman presents with increasing dyspnea on exertion. She denies cough, fevers, hemoptysis, weight loss or sweats.
- Case 11>> A 36 year-old woman presents with a several month history of worsening dyspnea on exertion and exercise limitation.
- Case 12>> A 44 year-old woman with cirrhosis secondary to chronic alcohol abuse and Hepatitis C presents with complaints of increasing dyspnea.
Abbreviations used in cases:
- FVC
- Forced Vital Capacity
- FEV1
- Forced Expiratory Volume in One Second
- TLC
- Total Lung Capacity
- RV
- Residual Volume
- DLCO
- Diffusion Capacity for Carbon Monoxide
- BD
- Bronchodilator
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