What is "spirometry"?

What is "spirometry"?

William Berger (Allergist and Immunologist) gives expert video advice on: How do I know if I have asthma?; Is asthma hereditary? and more...

Spirometry is a very important tool for physicians to help diagnose asthma and other lung conditions. When you do spirometry, you're basically trying to blow out as hard as you can and maintain that for about six seconds. That allows the doctor to look at a diagram and very often a computer readout that tells him what your flow rate is like compared to normal individuals who don't have asthma. Very often a bronchodilator will be given to see if that abnormally low flow rate will then improve, will increase. The spirometry helps the doctor determine what your lung capacity is, how much air you get out in the first second, and what the ratio is between how much air you get out in the first second and what your total lung capacity should be. The doctor uses this in many different ways, to help diagnose the problem, help diagnose if the patient has asthma, and also to follow the patient on intervals to see how their asthma is doing after treatment has been initiated.