Evaluation of Pulmonary Function Test in Patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and its correlation with the symptoms of the disease

Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurogenic progressive disease that leads to muscle atrophy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pulmonary function test (PFT) in patients with ALS and its correlation with ASL symptoms. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 32 ALS patients at Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. All patients filled out a demographic form and underwent body plethysmography to determine forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1), and FEV1/FVC indexes based on their gender and age. Blood samples were also collected to analyze atrial blood gas (ABG) and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Finally, the data were analyzed by using SPSS20 software.   Results: The mean age of the patients was 61.66±13.6 years. The prevalence of ALS was higher in females than in males. The study of the symptoms of the disease (87.1%) of the patients in the study was motor disorder, (0.31%) swallowing disorder, (48.0%) cough and shortness of breath and (40.0%) speech impairment. The results showed that there was a significant relationship between hypercarbia and night oxygen saturation , which the hypercarbia abundance was higher among patients whose night oxygen saturation was SO2 ˂90. But there was no significant relationship between hypercarbia and hypoxemia with symptoms of the disease.. Other results showed that the FEV1 test with swallowing disorder (P = 0.01) and cough and shortness of breath (P = 0.02) the results of FVC test with swallowing disorder (P = 0.01) and cough and shortness of breath (P = 0.02) and Also, there was a significant relationship between FEV1 / FVC test with swallowing disorder (P = 0.01) and cough and shortness of breath (P = 0.01) so that, With the normalization of the Pulmonary Function Test and the improvement of the patients , the symptoms of the disease also decreased. Conclusions: Overall, the results indicate that early detection of pulmonary involvement in patients with ALS can lead to interventions such as oxygen therapy and reduce symptoms and help improve their quality of life.