PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Leidy Lammers
AU  - Irene Steenbruggen
AU  - Hans Grotjohan
TI  - Comparison of old and new DLCO equipment in a pulmonary function lab
DP  - 2014 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P1999
VI  - 44
IP  - Suppl 58
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1999.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1999.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2014 Sep 01; 44
AB  - IntroductionThe use of biological controls is a valid method to monitor test quality in DLCO measurements. To evaluate DLCO tests between old and new equipment a healthy non smoking technologist performed weekly DLCO tests.MethodAll tests were performed according to ATS ERS 2005 guidelines. DLCO was measured with CareFusion Masterlab (ML) and Geratherm Diffustik. (GT)The diffusion gas mixture for the CareFusion system contained CO and Helium (He), the mixture for Geratherm contained CO en methane (CH4).ResultsDLCO with GT (10.28 (0.56) (SD) N=49) was statistically significantly (p<0.0001) larger than DLCO with ML (9.11 (0.52) (SD) N=40)VA with GT (5.4 (0.15) (SD)) was statistically significantly (p<0.0001) larger than VA with ML (5.26 (0.15) (SD))ConclusionWe found statistically significantly differences in DLCO and VA between old and new equipment. Biological control is a necessary tool for monitoring DLCO especially when changing devices. It is important to inform clinicians about future reports with the new equipment.