[Diagnostic parameters for the evaluation of work capacity: the bronchopulmonary system]

The bronchial pulmonary system can be effected by obstructive diseases with and without emphysema. The onset of these affections may be an airway allergy. In case of other mechanisms, fibrotic processes can be observed accompanied by a lung compliance decrease. Lung circulation itself is rarely affected by the development of Cor pulmonale in a state after pulmonary embolism and after the so-called primary pulmonary high pressure. These disorders can be diagnosed properly without or scarcely straining the patient by spirometry which requires the patient's cooperation, however, and by body plethysmography which does not depend on cooperation, lung compliance measurements, arterial blood gases and inhalative provocation tests. If applied by experience staff, these reliable basic methods supply qualitative and quantitative information for the assessment of working capability that scarcely can be obtained on another organ.