To maintain gas exchange function, the anatomy of the respiratory system is designed in such a way to make the process as efficient as possible.

A pressure-volume curve can be used for measuring:.production is reduced after a prolonged reduction in pulmonary blood flow.is the residual volume plus the inspiratory reserve volume.helium dilution over estimates FRC in patients’ with bullous lung disease.vital capacity is the volume of air expired from full inspiration to full expiration.the FRC in an average adult is 2.2litre.Fowlers method measures physiological dead space.The answers can be found at the end of the article, together with an explanation. However, differences in the exact way of measuring this space result in clinically significant different results and, therefore, debate remains about the true value of this measured parameter.Ĭopyright © 2023, StatPearls Publishing LLC.Before continuing, try to answer the following questions. Indeed, it may serve as a prognostic factor in patients with acute repository distress syndrome (ARDS) who require ventilation. This phenomenon has clinical significance because, both in healthy and impaired lungs, properly calculating and accounting for this non-physiological space is important for the proper respiratory care of ventilated patients. This is therefore termed anatomical dead space as it serves no respiratory function. Anatomic dead space is an important phenomenon in respiratory physiology whereby, owing to the fact that upper airways do not function as locations for gas exchange, and because of the tidal nature of ventilation, there is always a fraction of the inspired air that does not perform a physiologic function of exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen.

Anatomic dead space exercise