[Determination of blood volume in pulmonary capillaries in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease]

The subjects were divided into four groups, three of which consisted of patients with various degrees of lung obstruction, while the fourth was the control group. The patients were divided according to the spirometric values: VC, FEV1, FEV1/VC%. The diffusing capacity was determined on the basis of the single breath method and graphical separation of the diffusion components was performed. It was found that the diffusing lung capacity was slightly lower in patients with mild to severe obstructive lung disease. The capillary blood volume was also slightly lower. Correlations between the degree of obstruction of the respiratory system and the diffusing lung capacity or the lung capillary blood volume was not statistically significant (p greater than 0.5). In studying patients with obstructive lung disease we were unable to establish which of the diffusion components significantly affected the value of the total diffusing lung capacity.