Relationship Between Chest Wall Motion and Diaphragmatic Excursion in Healthy Adults in Supine Position

Background/Purpose

There has been a lack of studies that have used both three-dimensional analysis and imaging tools concurrently to describe lung volume changes and breathing pattern in subjects in the supine position. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between volume changes estimated by optoelectronic plethysmography (OEP) and diaphragmatic excursion (DE) measured by ultrasonography of healthy adults in the supine position.

Methods

Twelve healthy male subjects (age, 25.08 ± 6.35 years) were recruited and asked to perform tidal and deep breathing in the supine position. The volume changes during chest wall motion were quantified from OEP analysis—this was done for the upper thorax (UT), lower thorax (LT), and abdominal (AB) compartment. Lung volume was measured synchronously via the mouth piece of an electrospirometer. The right diaphragmatic movement was measured by ultrasonography.

Results

Linear regression showed that all three compartments (V_UT, V_LT and V_AB) in the inspiratory phase were correlated highly with DE during tidal and deep breathing. However, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the V_AB contributed 94–95% of the variance when performing either tidal or deep breathing. A predicted equation for diaphragmatic movement during deep breathing was DE = 0.052 + 0.294V_AB.

Conclusion

The movement of V_AB can be used as an index of DE among the normal population in the supine position. Its application in patients requires further study.

Key Words:  diaphragmatic excursion , optoelectronic plethysmography , thoracic wall , ultrasonography

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