Emphysema Stages
The stages help in describing the condition of the patient but there is no way to predict how long a person can survive. Doctors can do other tests as well to learn more about how severe the condition of a person is. According to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive lung disease, there are some set stages of emphysema, a type of COPD. Typically, the stages depend upon on a combination of symptoms, exacerbations, and air flow limitation. A doctor might use a breathing test to measure the capacity of lungs. [4]
According to the doctors, the two main methods to come up with the division of stages and these include:
The GOLD Emphysema staging system
The GOLD Emphysema staging system is a set of guidelines that the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) issues to measure how much air can a person blow out of his lungs. The doctor might also perform a CT scan on patient’s lungs. They use all of the information to place a certain patient into one of their following stages:
The test measures the forced expiratory volume (FEV1) in one second. On the basis of FEV1, the stages are as follows:
- Stage 1 or very mild stage
The forced expiratory volume (FEV1) is almost 80% of the normal lung capacity and the symptoms of the disease are of mild nature at this point. The patients at this stage might have no flare-ups during the time of one whole year or perhaps go through only one. In addition, the patients of stage 1 emphysema do not need hospitalization.
- Stage 2 or moderate stage
The forced expiratory volume (FEV1) is almost 50 to 80% of the normal lung capacity and the patient shows moderate symptoms at this stage 2 of emphysema. The patients at stage 2 emphysema mostly go to doctors for shortness of breath, wheezing, and cough. Moreover, there are only two flare-ups of the disease during a year.
- Stage 3 or severe stage
The forced expiratory volume (FEV1) is around 30 to 50% of the normal lung capacity and the symptoms of the disease start turning severe in nature. The stage 3 emphysema patients suffer from more than two flare-ups in one year and at least once need hospitalization.
- Stage 4 or very severe stage
The forced expiratory volume (FEV1) remains less than 30% of the normal lung capacity and the symptoms of the patients turn very severe in nature and makes the person out of breath even at rest. The patients suffer from a very little lung function and the stage 4 could be life-threatening.
The BODE Index
The staging system helps in measuring how much the condition of emphysema impacts a person’s daily life. The BODE Index looks at four main factors:
- Body mass index
Body mass index describes how much fat a person compares to your weight and height.
- Airflow limitation or obstruction
The doctor can tell how much damage the lungs are suffering from by evaluating how well the results of your pulmonary function tests are.
- Breathlessness
The doctor will ask you questions about how often a person feels out of breath.
- Exercise capacity
The exercise capacity measures how long you can walk in a time period of six minutes.