Our life depends on the functionality of these organs, yet we do not worry about their conditions which can be assessed with a few simple tests.
We never think much about how they are: we breathe, without realizing it, and that’s enough. Yet only thanks to them do we have the essential oxygen for life: the lungs are essential organs
to the point that we have two alike, with a reserve that allows us to live even if only one remains in operation. Yet few considered them before the last two years, when they became the main target of Covid-19
. An experience, the pandemic, which hopefully will leave us as a positive inheritance, greater attention to these fundamental but too often forgotten organs: this was recently highlighted by theAmerican Thoracic Society e la European Respiratory Society on the occasion of the publication of the new updated guidelines for lung function assessment tests.
La spirometria
Simple exams, that they do not involve any kind of risk but that few still know. There are three of them and the most common, but very useful, is spirometry, he explains Luca Richeldidirector of the Pneumology Unit of the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome and president of the Italian Society of Pneumology. It measures flows, that is, how much air passes into the lungs in a unit of timeand the volumes that enter the lungs themselves: it can give a first rough indication of lung function and for example identify the problems that depend on the compromise of air flowscome asthmaor by a reduction in volumes as in the case of fibrosis in patients with pulmonary emphysema.
Diffusion of carbon monoxide
La spirometria a routine examination also foreseen in medical-sports visits and very rapid, just inhale and exhale into a specific machine. The second test the diffusion of carbon monoxide and an indicator of the efficiency of the blood-alveolar barrier (the pulmonary structure consisting of the wall of the pulmonary alveoli and that of the capillaries where oxygen exchanges take place, ed), says Richeldi. It consists in doing breathe in air with a small percentage of carbon monoxide to then detect the quantity of this gas in the exhaled air: the monoxide has a higher affinity for the hemoglobin of the blood than for oxygen, therefore the better the efficiency of the barrier and therefore of the gaseous exchanges in the lungs, the lower the percentage of exhaled monoxide because most of the gas passes immediately into the blood and is not re-emitted with the breath.
The six-minute walking stress testi
The third examination, continues the pulmonologist, the six-minute walking stress testthe. A dynamic exam therefore, in which the person is made to walk then measure the oxygen saturation in the blood: if it is reduced, it means that the lung function is poor and an effort cannot be sustained well.
When to do them
These tests they must be performed if there is a suspicion of diseaseif there are respiratory symptoms that do not go away or even to objectively evaluate a common but difficult symptom to frame such as difficulty breathing. However, they can also be screening tests to undergo during a check-upas Richeldi points out: In addition to smokers, those who are familiar with lung diseases and workers exposed to substances that can compromise lung health, these tests are also recommended around the age of 40 to have an objective data on lung function and then follow it over time, during aging. Having a “starting point” it will thus be possible to realize whether the physiological decline in function with age is accelerated or not, identifying any pulmonary pathologies in time, concludes the pulmonologist.
March 31, 2022 (change March 31, 2022 | 18:45)
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