Measurement of pulmonary tissue volume and blood flow in persons with normal and edematous lungs.

We measured pulmonary tissue volume (Vt) and pulmonary capillary blood flow (Qc) by a rebreathing method using two soluble gases, acetylene (C2H2) and dimethyl ether (DME), in 32 normal subjects and 14 patients who had had pulmonary edema. In 18 of the normal subjects, studies were performed at three or more different rebreathing volumes (VA). To normalize for differences in body size, results were expressed as the ratio of Vt or VA to predicted total lung capacity (TLC). We found that 1) changes in VA/TLC had a significant effect on Vt/TLC and Qc measured with both gases, 2) the range of normal values for Vt was best defined by expressing the relationship between Vt/TLC and VA/TLC, 3) using this approach, many patients with clinically mild or inapparent pulmonary edema had abnormal values of Vt, and 4) when comparing mean values of C2H2 and DME in 82 simultaneous measurements at constant VA/TLC, Vt was significantly higher in 87% (71/82) and Qc in 63% (52/82) of the paired tests.