Biomedical Engineering 403
Ventilation, Part 1

Reading for Today:

Chapter 2 in West.

Howdee-doo There, Neighbors!

What can I tell you? This is what happened in class today (9-3-97). All of this is in outline format with hypertext, so if you want to review the specifics, or if you have any questions on a specific topic, click the hypertext for that topic.

The theme of today's lecture is:

How gas gets into the alveoli

and as such, we'll be dealing with topics such as the names of different volumes within the lungs, and how to measure these volumes.

First, a thorough review of what happened during the last class session!
Next, Some new stuff on static lung volumes.
- Dr. Z likes to lump the static lung volumes into three (3) categories:
  - 1. Steady State Volumes. These are volumes that represent the kind of breathing that you're doing right now, as you sit there and read this, with your breathing pattern in a steady state.
    Know the full name and definition of the following:
    - VT
    - FRC
  - 2. Going towards the Extremes These are measurements taken when your lungs are maximally or minimally inflated. Know the full name and definition of the following:
    - RV
    - VC
  - 3. Transient Volumes. These are measurements of volumes that you can use, but that you don't always. For example, the amount of air that you can still inhale after you've already taken a normal breath would fit into this category. Know the following:
    - IRV
    - ERV
Finally, some info on the Measurement of Lung Volumes. Know the following tests/devices, how they work, and what they measure: