title: Pulmonary function changes in cirrhosis of the liver.
abstract: Pulmonary function tests were performed in 21 cirrhotic patients with ascites, and these were compared with 50 normal controls. The vital capacity in the cirrhotic group was 93.67 +/- 12.5% and in controls was 102.47 +/- 15.22%, p less than 0.05. The maximum voluntary ventilation in cirrhotic patients was 89.33 +/- 25.4% and in controls was 127.48 +/- 28.44%, p less than 0.001. The functional residual capacity in cirrhotic patients was 2362.19 +/- 845.08 ml and in controls was 3085.1 +/- 837.92 ml, p less than 0.01. The total lung capacity in cirrhotic patients was 4675 +/- 1204.09 and in controls was 5791.56 +/- 1033.99, p less than 0.01. The first forced expiratory volume in cirrhotic patients was 70.1 +/- 12.79%, whereas that in controls was 77.74 +/- 9.18%, p less than 0.05. These results imply that in cirrhosis of the liver there are prominent restrictive ventilatory disorders as well as obstructive disorders.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001201:Ascites / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D013223:Statistics as Topic