British Journal of Anaesthesia 97 (5): 718–31 (2006) doi:10.1093/bja/ael216 Advance Access publication August 21, 2006 RESPIRATION AND THE AIRWAY A tidally breathing model of ventilation, perfusion and volume in normal and diseased lungs† J. S. Yem1, M. J. Turner1*, A. B. Baker1, I. H. Young2 and A. B. H. Crawford3 1Department of Anaesthetics, and 2Department of Respiratory Medicine, The University of Sydney, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia. 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia *Corresponding author: Department of Anaesthetics, University of Sydney, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Building 89 Level 4, Missenden Road, Camperdown, NSW 2050, Australia. E-mail:
[email protected] Background. To simulate the short-term dynamics of soluble gas exchange (e.g. CO2 rebreath- _ ing), model structure, ventilation–perfusion (V_ A/Q) and ventilation–volume (V_ A/VA) parameters _ must be selected correctly. Some diseases affect mainly the V_ A/Q distribution while others _ affect both V_ A/Q and V_ A/VA distributions. Results from the multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET) and multiple breath nitrogen washout (MBNW) can be used to select _ _ V_ A/Q and V_ A/VA parameters, but no method exists for combining V_ A/Q and V_ A/VA parameters in a multicompartment lung model. Methods. We define a tidally breathing lung model containing shunt and up to eight alveolar compartments. Quantitative and qualitative understanding of the diseases is used to reduce the number of model compartments to achieve a unique solution. The reduced model is _ fitted simultaneously to inert gas retentions calculated from published V_ A/Q distributions and normalized MBNWs obtained from similar subjects.