Q. A 56-year-old male was admitted through the emergency department last night after falling 8 feet from a ladder and sustaining a scalp laceration requiring 15 sutures. There was brief loss of consciousness associated with the traumatic event, so the decision was made to admit him for 24-hour observation. Incidentally, he complained of a chronic cough and you are called to evaluate him prior to discharge. He describes shortness of breath (dyspnea) with physical exertion, and reports that it has become increasingly worse over the past month. The patient is a construction worker and his job involves remodeling old homes and businesses. He denies any recent fevers or other symptoms. The patient has no history of smoking.
A chest x-ray performed on admission showed normal lung volumes with no infiltrates or consolidations, though an indistinct cardiac silhouette and ill-defined diaphragmatic contours were noted. His CXR was otherwise unremarkable.
On physical examination, he is afebrile, his blood pressure is 132/80 mm Hg, heart rate 65/min, respiratory rate 16/min, and pulse oximetry is 96 percent on room air. Examination of his chest demonstrates bibasilar end-inspiratory rales (crackles) on auscultation. You decide to order pulmonary function testing (PFT).
Based on his history and physical examination, what finding(s) would you expect to see?