Bulletin européen de physiopathologie respiratoire
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Bull Eur Physiopathol Respir · Jul 1984
Comparative StudyLung transfer factor for carbon monoxide measured during a slow single breath without breath-holding and during slow exhalation.
We considered whether a slow single breath with neither breath-holding nor carefully controlled flows could provide estimates of lung transfer factor for CO (TLCO) similar to those obtained with the usual standardized single breath technique. This technique requires actual flow rates and volume variations to be taken into account [10], as well as the use of a fast CO analyser and computerized calculations. TLCO values found with this method (TLCOsb) for 5 normal subjects and 29 patients with various respiratory diseases did not differ from those obtained with the standardized test (p less than 0.001). ⋯ In patients where two TLCOex values were required to describe the exhaled CO course, we found that TLCOex decreased with lung volume. This decrease was also correlated with the argon slope (p less than 0.001). The observed difference between TLCOsb and TLCOex values and the decrease of TLCOex with lung volume probably reflect inhomogeneous ventilation distribution.