title: Tidal volume inflection and its sensory consequences during exercise in patients with stable asthma.
abstract: Sixteen patients with stable asthma performed a symptom-limited constant work-rate CWR cycle exercise during which breathing pattern, operating lung volumes, dyspnea intensity and its qualitative descriptors were measured. An inflection in the relation between tidal volume (V(T)) and ventilation (V˙(E)) was observed in each subject. The sense of "work/effort" was the dominant dyspnea descriptor selected up to the V(T)/V˙(E) inflection, whereas after it dyspnea intensity and the selection frequency of "unsatisfied inspiration" rose steeply in 37.5% of subjects in whom inspiratory reserve volume (IRV) had decreased to a critical level of 0.6L at the V(T) inflection point. In contrast, dyspnea increased linearly with exercise time and V˙(E), and "work/effort" was the dominant descriptor selected throughout exercise in 62.5% of subjects in whom the V(T)/V˙(E) inflection occurred at a preserved IRV. The V(T) inflection during exercise in patients with stable asthma marked a mechanical event with important sensory consequences only when it occurred at a critical reduced IRV.
authors.affiliation: Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), Equipe de Recherche ER 10 UPMC, Laboratoire de Physio-Pathologie Respiratoire, Faculté de Médecine Pierre et Marie Curie (site Pitié-Salpêtrière), Paris 75013, France. pier_lav@yahoo.it
authors.forename: Pierantonio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laveneziana
authors.forename: Giulia Innocenti
authors.initials: GI
authors.lastname: Bruni
authors.forename: Ilenia
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Presi
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Stendardi
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duranti
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004417:Dyspnea / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D015656:Respiratory Mechanics / Q000502:physiology*; D013990:Tidal Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D014939:Work of Breathing / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult