Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Sep 1992
Continuous breathing circuit flow and tracheal tube cuff leak: sources of error during pediatric indirect calorimetry.
To determine whether continuous gas flow in the breathing circuit or an airleak around the tracheal tube cuff will introduce errors into the measurement of oxygen consumption (VO2) with indirect calorimetry. ⋯ An indirect calorimeter in which measurement of VO2 is based on internal constant flow rather than spirometry can be used to accurately measure VO2 from a continuous-flow breathing circuit, if the total circuit flow is less than the internal flow. This limitation may restrict the use of continuous flow to a level below the subject's peak inspiratory flow. The accuracy of indirect calorimetry cannot be guaranteed for any amount of tracheal tube cuff leak.