Lung Volumes Flashcards
Tidal Volume definition
Amount of air inspired (or expired) in a single breath
Inspiratory reserve volume definition
Volume of air you can breathe in after the Vt
Expiratory Reserve Volume
Volume of air you can force out in addition to the Vt
requires activation of expiratory muscles (active expiration)
Residual Volume
No matter how hard you try, cannot voluntarily force this air out
Vital Capacity- how to measure and what composes it
inhale and exhale as deeply as possible, measured using spirometry.
VC= IRV+VT+ERV
inspiratory capacity defintion
inhale as deeply as you can, it is the total volume of air you can inhale from a normal resting point
IC= IRV+VT
can use spirometry
• Functional Residual Capacity
All the air that remains in your lungs at the end of a normal (passive) respiration
FRC = ERV + RV
o Because it does include the RV, it cannot be measured
using spirometry.
Total Lung Capacity
The total volume of air in your lungs after a maximal
inhalation.
o TLC= ERV + RV + IRV + VT
o Because it does include the RV, it cannot be measured
using spirometry
Dead space definition and 3 kinds
Dead space is regions of the lung that receive air,
but not blood.
• Work done to bring air into these regions may be
wasted.
Anatomic, Alveolar dead space, Physiologic dead space
Anatomic dead space
This is the conducting airways that were never
meant to exchange O2 and CO2.
Alveolar dead space:
Alveoli that get air, but do not get
blood. No exchange occurs here (because there is no
blood to exchange with) so the work it took to get the air
into these alveoli is wasted.
Physiologic dead space:
The sum of anatomic and alveolar dead space
