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Pulmonary blood flow and tissue volume
Author(s) -
SALT J.C.,
GOTHARD J.W.W.,
BRANTHWAITE M.A.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1980.tb05041.x
Subject(s) - medicine , volume (thermodynamics) , diethyl ether , freon , dead space , blood flow , respiratory system , ether , blood volume , lung , biomedical engineering , nuclear medicine , anesthesia , chromatography , cardiology , thermodynamics , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics
Summary Pulmonary blood flow and tissue volume have been measured by a rebreathing technique in which the disappearance of soluble and insoluble gases from an inhaled mixture is followed continuously using a respiratory mass spectrometer. Although measurements made with diethyl ether are more reproducible than those made with freon‐22, they are inaccurate because ether (the more soluble gas) is taken up by the tissues surrounding the respiratory dead space. Experiments carried out on four normal subjects demonstrate that measurements of both pulmonary blood flow and tissue volume are influenced by the volume of gas in the lungs during the manoeuvre. Possible reasons for this are discussed and an exponential relationship between the two variables and lung volume is suggested.