Vernon Hills area specialists provide testing to measure lung capacity

Allergies and asthma often go hand in hand. It’s estimated 90 percent of kids with asthma also have allergies and about 50 percent of asthmatic adults are allergic, making allergic asthma the most common type of asthma. In these cases, dust mites, pollen, and other allergens that cause itching, eye watering, and redness also cause severe wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness characteristic of an asthma attack.

During an asthma attack, already inflamed airways become even narrower. Dr. Noga Askenazi and the staff can actually quantify how well your lungs are functioning. Advanced Allergy & Asthma Associates and Food Allergy Center of Illinois offers a gold standard in lung function tests, and spirometry.

During this type of test, you will be asked to breathe into a tube that is connected to a spirometer machine. The spirometer records information pertinent to how your lungs are functioning. The instructions Dr. Askenazi and the staff give to you correspond with different measurements of your lung function.

For example, the total lung capacity measurement results after the doctors ask you to breathe in as deeply as you can. TLC measures how much air is left in your lungs. Slow vital capacity is a measure of the how much air can be slowly breathed out after you breathe in deeply. Functional residual capacity is the measurement of air in your lungs after you exhale normally. Forced vital capacity represents the amount of air you can forcefully breathe out after you breathe in very deeply.

Other indicators of how well your lungs are functioning include:

• Forced Expiratory Volume – How much air is exhaled forcefully in a breath
• Forced Expiratory Flow – The amount of air that flows halfway through the exhale
• Peak Expiratory Flow – How much air is exhaled with maximum effort
• Maximum Voluntary Ventilation – Greatest amount of air that is breathed in and out in 60 seconds
• Residual Volume – The amount of air left in your lungs after exhaling completely
• Expiratory Reserve Volume – The difference between the amount of air in your lungs after breathing out normally versus after forcefully exhaling

In turn, lung capacity testing is accompanied by the measurement of other indicators of lung function to give Vernon Hills area residents a better idea of what is causing their troubling symptoms. Pulmonary function tests may be used to identify everything from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis.

The sooner Dr. Askenazi and the staff are able to collect and analyze information on how you breathe, the earlier they can get you on a treatment plan that works and gets you feeling better. Call (847) 888-8802 to schedule an appointment.

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