Figure 1
From: Assessing airway inflammation in clinical practice – experience with spontaneous sputum analysis
The impact of spontaneous sputum cytology on the diagnostic process of 108 new patients of 3 pneumology-specialized general practitioners. Patients underwent the diagnostic procedures commonly used in the respective practice. The pneumologists then rated their confidence in the diagnosis before knowing sputum cytology and again after having received the cytological result. The repeated ratings on analog scales were compared: increase in distance = diagnosis confirmed, change in diagnostic group = sputum provided new clues, distance unchanged = no additional information, reduction in distance = sputum rendered diagnosis less likely but provided no new clues.