[A new method of determining the oxygen consumption of ventilated patients]

A new method to determine the oxygen consumption in ventilated patients is described. The principle is based on application of the linear pressure slope from breathing pressure during lung closure (15 s with a maximum airway pressure of 10-15 mbar). This technique was compared with a modified spirographic method. In 11 patients and 18 observations we found the following results VO2SP = 36.573 ml/min + 0.887.VO2P1 (VO2SP: oxygen consumption with spirography, VO2P1: oxygen consumption with lung closure). The correlation coefficient was r = 0.9148.