Regional lung function in patients with bronchial asthma

T. Heckscher; H. Bass; A. Oriol; B. Rose; N. R. Anthonisen; D. V. Bates

doi:10.1172/JCI105796

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Heckscher, T. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Bass, H. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Oriol, A. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Rose, B. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Anthonisen, N. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Joint Cardiorespiratory Service and the Division of Allergy and Immunology Research, McGill University Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada

Find articles by Bates, D. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published in Volume 47, Issue 5 on May 1, 1968
J Clin Invest. 1968;47(5):1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI105796.
© 1968 The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Published May 1, 1968 - Version history

The regional distribution of pulmonary ventilation and perfusion and regional alveolar ventilation/perfusion ratios were measured with radioactive xenon (¹³³xenon) in 10 patients with asthma in remission. Four subjects had normal ventilation distribution, four had hypoventilation in some regions and normal ventilation in others, and two patients had abnormal ventilation in almost all lung regions. The lung bases were involved most frequently and the middle zones least frequently. Correlation was good between the degree of over-all ventilatory impairment calculated from ¹³³xenon values and measurement of the maximal midexpiratory flow rate the same day.

Regions which were hypoventilated had low ventilation/perfusion ratios and also tended to be hypoperfused. In the eight subjects who had been studied similarly 5 yr previously, changes in regional function correlated in general with changes in over-all function.