Functional Significance of Abnormally High or Low Compliance
Low compliance indicates a stiff lung and means extra work is required to bring in a normal volume of air. This occurs as the lungs in this case become fibrotic, lose their distensibility and become stiffer.
In a highly compliant lung, as in emphysema, the elastic tissue has been damaged, usually due to their being overstretched by chronic overinflation. Patients with emphysema have a very high lung compliance due to the poor elastic recoil, they have no problem inflating the lungs but have extreme difficulty exhaling air. In this condition extra work is required to get air out of the lungs. Compliance also increases with increasing age, and during an Asthma attack (for unclear reasons).
Compliance decreases in the following cases:
- Supine position
- Laparoscopic surgical interventions
- Severe restrictive pathologies
- Chronic restrictive pathologies
- Hydrothorax
- Pneumothorax
- High standing of a diaphragm
Read more about this topic: Pulmonary Compliance
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