What do abnormal DCLO results mean?

What do abnormal DCLO results mean?

Richard Sheldon (Medical Advisor to the CA State Respiratory Care Board) gives expert video advice on: Why would my doctor order peak flow testing?; How is a DCLO or diffusion capacity test performed? and more...

An abnormal result on a diffusion capacity could mean several things. It could mean that you've lost surface area, such as would be encountered in patients with emphysema. It could also mean that the health of the alveolar capillary membrane has been diminished and so you have a damaged alveolar capillary membrane. It may be the very first thing that you would pick up in interstitial lung diseases. Where every thing else is normal, one of the earliest findings in some of the interstitial lung diseases such as, for instance, sarcoi, would be an abnormal diffusion capacity.