Noninvasive ventilatory monitoring with bellows pneumographs in supine subjects

We compared simultaneous measurements of ventilatory movements obtained by a bellows pneumograph (BP) and a respiratory inductive plethysmograph (RIP) vs. integrated volume from a pneumotachograph in seven healthy volunteers during different respiratory patterns. The purpose of this study was to assess if a computer-aided calibration procedure could improve the accuracy of BP, a simple semiquantitative method for noninvasive ventilatory monitoring in supine subjects. Both devices were repeatedly calibrated against a pneumotachograph in the same posture with a computer-aided least-squares method. One calibration maneuver was sufficient to achieve a minimal relative difference in volume measurements between the RIP as well as the BP and the pneumotachograph of less than 1.2 +/- 4.5 (SD) %. The accuracy remained in this range during the subsequent calibrations with time (1 h) and after body movements. However, this difference increased significantly with both devices when the subjects were studied in the lateral decubitus position. The present study indicates that despite theoretical advantages of the RIP, the BP, when properly calibrated, has similar performances in supine subjects for monitoring ventilation; it is simpler and less expensive than the RIP and is devoid of electrical drift and artifacts.