• Respiratory care · Mar 2015

    Multicenter Study

    Single-Breath Diffusing Capacity for Carbon Monoxide Instrument Accuracy Across 3 Health Systems.

    • Matthew J Hegewald, Boaz A Markewitz, Emily L Wilson, Heather M Gallo, and Robert L Jensen.
    • Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. matt.hegewald@imail.org.
    • Respir Care. 2015 Mar 1;60(3):430-6.

    BackgroundMeasuring diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO) is complex and associated with wide intra- and inter-laboratory variability. Increased D(LCO) variability may have important clinical consequences. The objective of the study was to assess instrument performance across hospital pulmonary function testing laboratories using a D(LCO) simulator that produces precise and repeatable D(LCO) values.MethodsD(LCO) instruments were tested with CO gas concentrations representing medium and high range D(LCO) values. The absolute difference between observed and target D(LCO) value was used to determine measurement accuracy; accuracy was defined as an average deviation from the target value of < 2.0 mL/min/mm Hg. Accuracy of inspired volume measurement and gas sensors were also determined.ResultsTwenty-three instruments were tested across 3 healthcare systems. The mean absolute deviation from the target value was 1.80 mL/min/mm Hg (range 0.24-4.23) with 10 of 23 instruments (43%) being inaccurate. High volume laboratories performed better than low volume laboratories, although the difference was not significant. There was no significant difference among the instruments by manufacturers. Inspired volume was not accurate in 48% of devices; mean absolute deviation from target value was 3.7%. Instrument gas analyzers performed adequately in all instruments.ConclusionsD(LCO) instrument accuracy was unacceptable in 43% of devices. Instrument inaccuracy can be primarily attributed to errors in inspired volume measurement and not gas analyzer performance. D(LCO) instrument performance may be improved by regular testing with a simulator. Caution should be used when comparing D(LCO) results reported from different laboratories.Copyright © 2015 by Daedalus Enterprises.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…