Peak flow meters are also useful in children who have asthma. Your physician may not recommend that a PFM be used unless your asthma is considered moderate or severe and you are managed with medication(s). Peak flow meters are primarily used for individuals who have asthma. The PFM can also identify the value at which you will need to call your physician or go to the emergency room.
This allows you to make early changes in your medication or routine to help prevent asthma symptoms from worsening. Using a PFM every day will let you know when your peak flows are starting to drop. The PFM can detect small changes in the large airways before you start to wheeze. It can provide you and your physician with information about how open the airways are in your lungs. Reasons for the ProcedureĪ peak flow meter (PFM) can assist with the management of asthma. Bronchioles end in tiny air sacs called alveoli. In the lungs, the main-stem bronchi divide into smaller bronchi and then into even smaller tubes called bronchioles.
One main-stem bronchus leads to the right lung and one to the left lung. It then travels down the throat through the larynx (voice box) and trachea (windpipe) and goes into the lungs through tubes called main-stem bronchi. When you breathe, the air enters the body through the nose or the mouth. The right lung has three sections, called lobes. The lungs are separated from each other by the mediastinum, an area that contains the following: The lungs are enveloped in a membrane called the pleura. They take up most of the space in the chest, or the thorax (the part of the body between the base of the neck and diaphragm). The lungs are a pair of cone-shaped organs made up of spongy, pinkish-gray tissue. The lungs also get rid of carbon dioxide, a waste product of the body's cells. The lungs take in oxygen, which cells need to live and carry out their normal functions. The lower respiratory tract includes the lungs, bronchi, and alveoli. The upper respiratory tract includes the: The respiratory system is made up of the organs involved in the interchanges of gases, and consists of the:
Please see these procedures for additional information. Other related procedures that may be used to diagnose problems of the lungs and respiratory tract include chest x-rays, bronchoscopy, bronchography, chest fluoroscopy, chest ultrasound, lung biopsy, lung scan, mediastinoscopy, oximetry, positron emission tomography (PET scan), pleural biopsy, pulmonary angiogram, pulmonary function tests, sinus x-ray, and thoracentesis.