Lung function measurements in children - copsac

Introduction
Symptoms of chronic respiratory disease as asthma or cystic fibrosis appear in early
childhood. Clinical evaluation of chronic respiratory disease by auscultation and history
of respiratory symptoms is of limited sensitivity and specificity, which makes
diagnosing and monitoring the respiratory disease difficult. Therefore, lung function
measurement is “the gold-standard” for diagnosing and monitoring chronic lung
diseases in young children.
Lung function techniques in children
Lung function measurements in children can be measured with different methods
according to their age and feasibility. In this thesis we used the raised volume rapid
thoracic compression technique in infants, wholebody plethysmography in preschool
children and spirometry in schoolchildren to measure lung function. In the following
section the different lung function techniques are described briefly.
Lung function measurement in infancy
Raised volume rapid thoracic compression technique (RVRTC)
Infant lung function testing is increasingly applied in research. It is often necessary to
sedate the infant during measurement since the infant while awake cannot cooperate to
special breathing maneuvers. The RVRTC method requires relatively complex
equipment for lung inflation. An external pressure is applied to the chest and abdomen
to force expiration (Figure 1). The method allows measurements of volume-time
parameters as for example forced expiratory volumes at 0.5 seconds.
Figure 1: Equipment required for RVRTC (1)
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