Spirometry in Slavuta

What spirometry shows

Spirometry is also called a lung function test. You breathe out as hard as you can into the tube of a spirometer, and the device measures how much air comes out and how fast, especially in the first second. When the airways are narrowed, as in asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), air comes out more slowly. Some other conditions reduce the volume of the lungs themselves, and spirometry may point to that as well.

The result helps the doctor confirm or rule out a diagnosis. If you already have asthma or COPD, repeat tests show whether your condition is stable and whether treatment is working. Spirometry doesn’t make a diagnosis by itself: the doctor assesses it together with your symptoms and an examination. It’s most often ordered by a Viva Clinic internist when a cough or breathlessness won’t go away.

Why a bronchodilator test is done

First you do a standard test. Then you inhale a medicine that opens up the airways, and about 15 minutes later you repeat the spirometry. If the results have improved noticeably, the narrowing of the airways is reversible. This helps the doctor recognize asthma or COPD and decide what treatment you need. Whether to do this test is decided by the doctor who referred you.

How to prepare for spirometry

According to the American Thoracic Society and European Respiratory Society standards (ATS/ERS 2019), before spirometry:

• don’t smoke, including e-cigarettes and water pipes, for at least an hour;
• don’t drink alcohol for 8 hours;
• avoid vigorous exercise for an hour before the test;
• wear loose clothes that don’t squeeze your chest or belly.

You don’t need to fast. If you use inhalers, ask your doctor in advance whether you should pause them. When spirometry is done for a diagnosis, short-acting inhalers are usually not used for 4–6 hours before the test, and long-acting ones for one to two days. If you find it hard to breathe without your inhaler, use it and tell the staff before the test. Bring your referral, any previous spirometry results and a list of your medicines, including inhalers.

Tell the doctor beforehand if in the last week you’ve had a heart attack or eye surgery, if in the last month you’ve had chest or abdominal surgery, or if you have a collapsed lung (pneumothorax) or are in late pregnancy. In these cases the test may be postponed. Spirometry is also put off if you have an acute cold or a fever.

How the test is done

Before the test, your height and weight are measured, because the results are compared with normal values for people of your age, sex and height. You sit up straight, a clip is put on your nose and you seal your lips tightly around the mouthpiece. Dentures are usually left in if they fit well. First you breathe calmly a few times, then you breathe in as deeply as you can and blow out as hard and fast as possible, right to the end, until you’re asked to stop. The specialist tells you when to breathe in and when to push out a bit more.

The breath out is repeated at least three times so the results match, and the best ones are used for the report. Deep breathing can make you briefly dizzy or make you cough, so you rest between attempts.

Spirometry is done at the Viva Clinic polyclinic at 27a Sobornosti St, so you can have your breathing checked in Slavuta without traveling to Khmelnytskyi. The test is paid, because the clinic has no contract with NSZU for outpatient specialist care. The same polyclinic also offers ultrasound, ECG and other tests.