Body plethysmography
| Plethysmograph | |
|---|---|
| Medical diagnostics | |
| MeSH | D010991 |
| MedlinePlus | 003771 |
A plethysmograph is an instrument for measuring changes in volume within an organ or whole body (usually resulting from fluctuations in the amount of blood or air it contains).
Pulmonary plethysmographs are commonly used to measure the functional residual capacity (FRC) of the lungs—the volume in the lungs when the muscles of respiration are relaxed—and total lung capacity.
In a traditional plethysmograph, the test subject is placed inside a sealed chamber the size of a small telephone booth with a single mouthpiece. At the end of normal expiration, the mouthpiece is closed. The patient is then asked to make an inspiratory effort. As the patient tries to inhale (a maneuver which looks and feels like panting), the lungs expand, decreasing pressure within the lungs and increasing lung volume. This, in turn, increases the pressure within the box since it is a closed system and the volume of the box compartment has decreased to accommodate the new volume of the subject.
Boyle's Law is used to calculate the unknown volume within the lungs. First, the change in volume of the chest is computed. The initial pressure of the box times its volume is considered equal to the known pressure after expansion times the unknown new volume. Once the new volume is found, the original volume minus the new volume is the change in volume in the box and also the change in volume in the chest. With this information, Boyle's Law is used again to determine the original volume of gas in the chest: the initial volume (unknown) times the initial pressure is equal to the final volume times the final pressure. Starting from this principle, it can be shown that the functional residual capacity is a function of the changes in volume and pressures as follows:
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