Calculating The Dead Space
Just as dead space wastes a fraction of the inhaled breath, dead space dilutes alveolar air during exhalation. By quantifying this dilution it is possible to measure anatomical and alveolar dead space, employing the concept of mass balance, as expressed by Bohr equation.
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- where is the dead space volume and is the tidal volume;
- is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the arterial blood, and
- is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the expired (exhaled) air.
Read more about this topic: Dead Space (physiology)
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