Online ISSN: 2515-8260

CORRELATION BETWEEN 6 MINUTE WALK TEST AND DIFFUSION CAPACITY OF LUNG FOR CARBON MONOXIDE (DLCO) IN DIFFUSE PARENCHYMAL LUNG DISEASES (DPLD)

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Dr. Sona Mohan1 , Dr. Muthu Ganesh2 , Dr. Nitin Gaikwad3*

Abstract

AIM: To find a relationship between the results of 6-minute walk test and DLCO in patients with radiologically confirmed DLPD MATERIALS & METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted from October 2020 – October 2022 who presented to the department of Respiratory Medicine. A total of 41 patients who presented with chronic dyspnoea and who were clinically and radiologically suggestive of DPLD were included in the study. All of them underwent the 6-minute walk test and DLCO which were later compared. RESULTS: There was significant correlation between 6MWD and DLCO but there was no correlation between desaturation and DLCO statistically but found clinically significant desaturation among 37 patients out of 41 patients who underwent 6MWT. We also compared age, sex , history of smoking, patients who had taken treatment and patients who had not received any treatments, could not find any correlations statistically in 6MWD,desaturation and DLCO. CONCLUSION: DLCO can be done only in specialised centres whereas 6MWT is an economic test, easily accessible to physicians for assessing the functional capacity of the lungs in DPLD patients where DLCO is not available.

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