A 48-year-old man comes to the office for an initial visit. He says that he feels well and has no medical problems. The patient has a 20-pack-year smoking history and does not use alcohol or illicit drugs. He is counseled on smoking cessation. To explain how smoking affects lung function, the patient is shown a graph of the expected change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) over time if he continues to smoke at the same rate (curve D in the image). Which of the following curves most likely demonstrates the expected FEV1 over time if this patient were to stop smoking now?
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