Abstract
Since traditional pulmonary function testing is centered on measurements of air flow and lung volume, a method to assess the pulmonary circulation might improve our ability to evaluate diseases that impact upon pulmonary hemodynamics. We have developed a PC based application that rapidly calculates pulmonary blood flow. Subjects rebreath a mixture of 10% argon and 3.5% freon for 20 seconds. Gas concentrations at the mouth are monitored by a clinical mass spectrometer and signals are acquired and processed with off-the-shelf hardware. To test the accuracy and reproducibility of this technique, patients with pulmonary artery catheters were assessed by standard thermodilution methods and the rebreathing test. Measurements using this non-invasive technology closely corellate with invasive thermodilution methods (r=0.980) and show equivalent reproducibility (average standard error=2.5%). This application of signal processing technology can extend the role of pulmonary function testing to include routine evaluation of the pulmonary circulation.
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Abbreviations
- QC :
-
Pulmonary Capillary Blood Flow
- QTD :
-
Thermodilution Cardiac Output
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Winter, S.M. Clinical non-invasive measurement of effective pulmonary capillary blood flow. J Clin Monitor Comput 12, 121–140 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02332687
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02332687