A deep breath method for noninvasive estimation of cardiopulmonary parameters.

A specific ventilation pattern incorporating a single deep breath is used to demonstrate the possibility of estimating six cardiopulmonary parameters by measuring respiratory flow and expired oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations at the mouth. Equations are derived from both alternating and continuous ventilation models of gas exchange which allow the six parameter estimates to be computed. The results indicate that pulmonary capillary blood flow, functional residual capacity, equivalent lung volume, mixed venous PO2 and PCO2, and pulmonary tissue plus capillary blood volume can be estimated in subjects with normal gas exchange. The use of a mechanical ventilator to provide a uniform ventilation pattern before and after the ventilator induced deep breath is the key to the methods simplicity. This allowed parameter estimates to be obtained which could then be analyzed for accuracy and precision. The feasibility of estimating these parameters, demonstrated by the present study, suggests that a recursive least squares estimation procedure could be used to recover the time variation of each parameter during exercise stress testing of subjects with normal or nearly normal gas exchange.