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Assessment of Lung Physiology Using Pulmonary Function Tests

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Functional Imaging of the Chest

Part of the book series: Medical Radiology ((Med Radiol Diagn Imaging))

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Abstract

The lung combines two basic functions linked to respiration; first gas exchange, consisting of the oxygenation of the incoming desaturated venous blood and the removal of carbon dioxide, thus producing arterialized blood, and second, and consequently, the removal of protons (H+) from this incoming blood, permitting fast regulation of the blood concentration of H+ (pH) (Dejours 1975). To perform this task adequately, ventilation and circulation within the lung must be matched so that the ratio of the distribution of ventilation to that of perfusion is optimum. The ventilation-perfusion ratio ultimately determines the functional performance of the lung in terms of gas exchange at a given level of ventilation (Riley and Cournand 1949). Measurement of blood gases is the most relevant test available to give a global assessment of gas exchange in a given patient. Unfortunately blood gas values, when abnormal, give no clue as to what aspect of lung function is impaired. Furthermore, these values tend to become abnormal only in the late or acute phase of lung diseases, because of the remarkable flexibility of ventilationperfusion control.

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  1. Service Central d’Explorations Fonctionnelles Respiratoires, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié Salpêtrière, AP-HP, and Université Paris VI, 47-83 boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75651, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Marc Zelter MD (Professor)

  2. Service Central d’Explorations Fonctionnelles Respiratoires, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié Salpêtrière, AP-HP, 47-83 boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75651, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Christian Straus MD

  3. Hôpital Marie Lannelongue, 133 Avenue de la Résistance, 92350, Plessis Robinson, France

    André Capderou MD

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  1. Marc Zelter MD
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  1. Innovative Krebsdiagnostik und Therapie, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Hans-Ulrich Kauczor MD (Professor of Radiology) (Professor of Radiology)

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Zelter, M., Straus, C., Capderou, A. (2004). Assessment of Lung Physiology Using Pulmonary Function Tests. In: Kauczor, HU. (eds) Functional Imaging of the Chest. Medical Radiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18621-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18621-9_2

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