User's Manual

122 - K4 b
2
User Manual
Perform the test
(During 1st step only) select Protocol... from the Test menu and choose the name of the
bronchoprovocation protocol that you are going to use (manual protocol if you want to
type the information about the agent before any manoeuvre)
1. Select FVC post from the Test menu.
2. Select an existing protocol or click on “manual protocol”, and wait the green leds
turned on.
3. Press F2, or the button by side, to start the test.
4. Press F3, or the button by side, to achieve the test.
5. In order to visualise the V/t graph and the main parameters press the follow
buttons:
view Flow Volume graph
view data of the test
view bronchial provocation response
6. Press Alt+F3 to stop the acquisition discarding the results.
7. Repeat the test until it is correctly performed (ATS recommends 3 times).
8. Press Exit to visualise the test list carried out during current session together with
the results of the main parameters.
9. Select the test that you want to save (the Best Test according to the ATS criteria is
highlighted as default) and press OK.
Bronchial Provocation protocols Database
The response to a bronchoprovocator is usually assessed in terms of change in the
FEV1, vital capacity or airways resistance on the basis of serial measurements (FVC
manoeuvres) in which the results of the initial test constitute the reference values. The
international literature proposes several standardised protocols in order to address the
methodological issues of the various available techniques.
The possibility to store a bronchoprovocation protocol in a database is useful to simplify
and automate the sequence of operations that the Physician need to execute during the
bronchoprovocation tests.
The typical sequence of activities to carry out a bronchoprovocation test are:
1. Typing and storing a bronchoprovocation protocol in the database (usually only
once).
2. Selection of protocol among the list of the ones already present in the database
before carrying out the FVC post tests (the selection of “manual protocol” allows to
execute the test fully manually).
3. Performing the Post tests.
Enter a new Bronchial provocation protocol in the archive
1. Select Bronchoprov. protocols database from the File menu.
2. Type the Protocol name, the Bronchoprovocator name and the unit of measurement
in the proper input fields.
3. If the bronchoprovocator has a cumulative effect select the cumulative check
button.
4. Enter the quantities for each step and press the button .