What is the role of the spirometric tests mentioned in the introduction in asthma monitoring?
Spirometers are designed to measure the volume of air blown out of the lungs, as well as its speed. They are constructed in such a way that the measurement is presented as a graph in the time interval. Such a graph is called a spirogram. The characteristics of the graph clearly show the relationship between the release of the air flow rate and the decrease in its volume "in the exhale" - and the bronchial stenosis of a sick person.
Do spirometric tests play an important role in self-control?
Spirometry test is an indispensable test enabling the supervision of a physician on the quality of monitoring a patient suffering from asthma. It allows initial medical assessment of the severity of the disease in the patient, an objective assessment of the patient's self-control, as well as the control of picflometric measurements carried out by the patient. Spirometric tests (measured in FEV1 units), however, require quite expensive and complicated equipment. After stabilization of treatment and symptoms in the patient the basic parameter is PEF measured with a peak flow meter. Spirometry, on the other hand, can be controlled every year or every two years.
What should the patient himself require for good monitoring of asthma?
The patient's success is the ability to fully control the course of the disease. However, this requires extraordinary meticulousness in observing one's own symptoms, and in recording and analyzing the results. Having a diary with PEF measurement results in mind, plaques with due PEF standards, daily calculation of the daily variation index and% deviation of your PEF measurement from the due (or maximum) values, the patient may observe the stabilization or development of the disease. Based on the above observations (PEF value and daily variability analysis), the patient can determine the beginning of asthma exacerbation even before clinical symptoms appear (cough, shortness of breath, etc.).
