Clinical physiology and functional imaging
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Clin Physiol Funct Imaging · Jan 2021
Ventilatory inefficiency during graded exercise in COPD: A pragmatic approach.
The current approach to measuring ventilatory (in)efficiency (V'E -V'CO2 slope, nadir and intercept) presents critical drawbacks in the evaluation of COPD subjects, owing mainly to mechanical ventilatory constraints. Thus, we aimed to compare the current approach with a new method we have developed for ventilatory efficiency calculation. ⋯ Although requiring more complex calculations compared to the current procedure, the new approach is highly sensitive to true ventilatory/gas-exchange deterioration, even throughout more severe pulmonary lung function in COPD subjects.