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Development of a paediatric indirect calorimeter
J C McCauley1, J R Allen, A M Selby
1James Fairfax Institute of Paediatric Clinical Nutrition, Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Camperdown, Sydney, Australia.
Insights
A new indirect calorimeter accurately measures resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) in children. This mobile, safe device is suitable for all pediatric patients, from infants to adolescents.
Area of Science:
- Clinical Pediatrics
- Medical Device Engineering
- Metabolic Research
Background:
- Accurate measurement of resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) is crucial for clinical pediatric populations.
- Existing indirect calorimetry methods may have limitations in terms of applicability to diverse pediatric age groups and mobility.
- A need exists for a versatile, safe, and accurate indirect calorimeter for pediatric use.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate an indirect calorimeter for measuring REE and RQ in a clinical pediatric population.
- To ensure the device is suitable for spontaneously breathing children of all sizes, from infants to adolescents.
- To assess the accuracy and clinical utility of the developed indirect calorimeter.
Main Methods:
- Development of a mobile indirect calorimeter with adjustable flow rates (2-40 L/min) for patient headbox.
- Implementation of an alcohol burning technique for system calibration and accuracy validation across various conditions.
- Testing the device's electrical safety and disinfection capabilities for the patient interface.
Main Results:
- The indirect calorimeter successfully measures REE and RQ in a wide range of pediatric patients.
- The system demonstrated high accuracy across various conditions, validated by an alcohol burning emulation technique.
- The device's design accommodates spontaneous breathing in children from neonates to hypermetabolic adolescents.
Conclusions:
- The developed indirect calorimeter is a mobile, electrically safe, and accurate tool for pediatric metabolic assessment.
- Its adjustable flow rate and suitability for spontaneously breathing children make it versatile for clinical use.
- The device has been successfully applied to measure a large cohort of children, confirming its clinical applicability.
Abstract:
An indirect calorimeter was developed to measure resting energy expenditure (REE) and respiratory quotient (RQ) in a clinical paediatric population. The design is suitable for any child spontaneously breathing room air. Measurements are possible from small babies to large hypermetabolic adolescents due to the ability to set and control flow from the patient headbox across the range 2-40 l/min. The calorimeter is mobile, it is electrically safe and the patient interface may be disinfected. An alcohol burning technique, that can emulate a clinical test for children of various sizes, is used to check the system, which has a high level of accuracy across a range of conditions. The indirect calorimeter has been successfully used to measure a large number of children of different sizes.