The Use of Forced Oscillation Technique in the Analysis of Respiratory System in Never-smoking Patients With Silicosis:Pathophysiological Study and Evaluation of Diagnostic Accuracy

Silicosis is a chronic and incurable occupational disease that can progress independent of the end of exposure. Recent works suggest that the Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) may help to improve our understanding of the changes in lung mechanics, as well as in the detection of these changes.

Objectives: Analyze the effects of airway obstruction in silicosis on the respiratory impedance and evaluated the diagnostic use of the FOT in these patients. For this, the investigators used spirometry to classify airway obstruction, which resulted in four categories: control, patients with normal exam, mild obstruction, and moderate-to-severe obstruction. Resistive data were interpreted using the zero-intercept resistance (R0), the resistance at 4 Hz (Rrs4) and the mean resistance (Rm). The investigators also analyzed the mean reactance (Xm) and the dynamic compliance (Crs,dyn). The total mechanical load was evaluated using the absolute value of the respiratory impedance (Z4Hz). The diagnostic potential was evaluated by investigating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).