Chest
John Hutchinson's Mysterious Machine Revisited
Section snippets
Vital Capacity as a Predictor of Heart Disease
In 1980, the Framingham Study of 5,209 men over the age of 30 years reported that the vital capacity was a powerful prognostic indicator6:
This simple office procedure is a useful predictor of pulmonary disease and cardiac failure and can effectively select groups of persons destined for premature death. Since the FVC predicts cardiovascular as well as noncardiovascular mortality this pulmonary function measurement seems truly a measure of living capacity useful for insurance and underwriting
Barriers to Widespread Applications
If the vital capacity is so important to clinical medicine, why don't all physicians have spirometers in their offices just as they have the chest radiograph (introduced into medicine in 1895), the sphygmomanometer (invented in 1896), or an ECG machine (invented in 1903)? Could it be that pulmonologists and physiologists who established pulmonary function laboratories clouded their instrument in mystery, so as to obscure the true value of spirometry in primary care medicine? If so, “we have
The Essence of Spirometry
Spirometry is a simple expression of a complex process, just like BP. When the lungs are filled, they and the thorax are stretched to the maximum. Following a forced expiration, the lungs empty down to the residual volume, leaving a small amount of air in the upper portions of the lung, (Fig 4). This is because the upper lung has less elastic recoil than the lower part of the lung. The spirogram reflects the muscular effort to start the process, elastic recoil of lungs and thorax, small airways
Foundations for COPD Screening
The third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which looked at a random population of > 20,000 Americans, shows a high prevalence of undiagnosed and untreated COPD, which increases with age. This study of a large random sample of the US population reveals a high prevalence of COPD in both current and former smokers that was not diagnosed, even in the face of clinical respiratory symptoms of classic cough and dyspnea.21 An earlier study of smokers with only mild airflow obstruction,
Popularity of the Sphygmomanometer
Contrast the history of spirometry with that of the development and widespread application of the sphygmomanometer, invented 50 years after the spirometer. The cuff sphygmomanometer was invented by Italian physician Scipione Riva-Rocci in 1896. This simple device caught the eye of US surgeon Harvey Cushing, who believed he could use it in the measurement of BP, which would be useful in his ongoing studies of cerebral perfusion. Cushing introduced this instrument at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Early
REFERENCES (26)
- et al.
The effect of pulmonary impairment on all-cause mortality in a national cohort
Chest
(1993) - et al.
Spirometric findings and mortality in never-smokers
J Clin Epidemiol
(1990) - et al.
Effects of pulmonary function on mortality
J Chronic Dis
(1985) - et al.
Pulmonary function is a long-term predictor of mortality in the general population: 29-year follow-up of the Buffalo Health Study
Chest
(2000) - et al.
Office spirometry for lung health assessment in adults: a consensus statement from the National Lung Health Education Program
Chest
(2000) On the capacity of the lungs, and on the respiratory functions, with a view of establishing a precise and easy method of detecting disease by the spirometer
Medico-Chirurgical Transactions (London)
(1846)A bibliography of John Hutchinson
Med Hist
(1977)John Hutchinson in Australia and Fiji
Med Hist
(1977)John Hutchinson, the inventor of the spirometer: his north country background, life in London, and scientific achievement
Med Hist
(1977)Dr. John Hutchinson: the inventor of the spirometer
Aust Fam Physician
(1981)
The value of measuring vital capacity for prognostic purposes
Trans Assoc Life Insur Med Dir Am
150 years of blowing: since John Hutchinson
Can Respir J
Cited by (45)
An automated deep learning pipeline for detecting user errors in spirometry test
2024, Biomedical Signal Processing and ControlStandardized pulmonary function testing
2018, Lung Function Testing in the 21st Century: Methodologies and Tools Bridging Engineering to Clinical PracticeTechnical requirements of spirometers in the strategy for guaranteeing the access to quality spirometry
2011, Archivos de BronconeumologiaCitation Excerpt :More than 150 years ago, John Hutchinson became interested in the value of the volume of air that humans could exchange with the environment.1,2
Obtaining spirometric reference values when height is not available – comparison of alternative anthropometric measures
2020, PulmonologyCitation Excerpt :Since the invention of the spirometer by John Hutchinson the impact of the decrease of pulmonary function values on morbidity and mortality has been recognized.1
Competitive sports with asthma
2023, Atemwegs- und Lungenkrankheiten