title: [Plethysmographic and radiologic measurement of the total lung capacity during acute attack of bronchial asthma].
abstract: There is controversy on the behavior of total lung capacity (TLC) during an acute asthma attack because the severe airflow obstruction causes an overestimation of the intrathoracic gas measured by plethysmography. We measured plethysmographic and radiologic TLC (TLCpl, TLCrx) in 17 patients with acute asthma, at admission and 3-5 days later when clinical and spirometric improvement was seen. TLCrx was measured planimetrically from routine chest X-rays in postero-anterior and lateral projection. Patients had a mean age of 32 +/- 15 years (ranging from 8-53) and six were males. FEV1 and FVC increased significantly in the second evaluation (1.36 +/- 0.7 vs 1.99 +/- 0.7 L, and 1.97 +/- 0.9 vs 2.6 +/- 1 L respectively, p less than 0.05), whereas airway resistance decreased (13.4 +/- 5.3 vs 9.8 +/- 3.4 cm H2O/L/s, p less than 0.05). On the other hand, we did not find a significant change in TLCpl (4.4 +/- 1.1 vs 4.6 +/- 1.2 L) nor in TLCrx (4.2 +/- 0.9 vs 4.1 +/- 0.8 L). We found no significant difference between TLCpl and TLCrx.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología Pulmonar, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, México, D.F.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Pérez-Martínez
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Del Cid García
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rogelio Pérez-Padilla
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010991:Plethysmography; D011859:Radiography; D013224:Status Asthmaticus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014109:Total Lung Capacity
vernacular_title: Medición pletismográfica y radiológica de la capacidad pulmonar total durante un ataque agudo de asma bronquial.