Rodarte J R, Hyatt R E, Rehder K, Marsh H M
Chest. 1977 Dec;72(6):762-8. doi: 10.1378/chest.72.6.762.
Abnormalities in small airways appear to be important in the evolution of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Patients with these pathologic lesions may have normal values for airway resistance and forced expiratory volume in one second. Two new tests, the closing volume (CV) and the dependence of maximal flow on density, are believed to be sensitive to abnormalities in the peripheral airways. The CV test detects an increased nonuniformity of changes in volume of pulmonary units. Reduced dependence of flow on density is believed to result from an increase in the peripheral component of the losses of driving pressure which determine maximal expiratory flow. Both tests differentiate smokers with normal conventional spirometric data from age-matched nonsmokers. Although this evidence suggests that these tests can be used to detect abnormalities in small airways, there is very little pathologic confirmation of this belief. The clinical significance of abnormalities in the results of either of these tests in an otherwise normal person has not yet been determined.
小气道异常在慢性阻塞性肺疾病的发展过程中似乎起着重要作用。患有这些病理病变的患者气道阻力和一秒用力呼气量可能正常。两种新的检测方法，闭合气量（CV）和最大流量对密度的依赖性，被认为对外周气道异常敏感。CV检测可发现肺单位容积变化的不均匀性增加。流量对密度的依赖性降低被认为是由于决定最大呼气流量的驱动压损失的外周成分增加所致。这两种检测方法都能区分常规肺功能数据正常的吸烟者和年龄匹配的非吸烟者。尽管有证据表明这些检测可用于检测小气道异常，但很少有病理学证据支持这一观点。在其他方面正常的人中，这两种检测结果异常的临床意义尚未确定。
