THE EFFECTS OF SUPPLEMENTARY BREATHING RESISTANCE ON PULMONARY VENTILATION AND GAS EXCHANGE IN PATIENTS WITH COPD

Abstract

The adaptation of the respiratory system to the gradual increase of resistive loading in patients with a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease changes the subjective assessment of breathlessness, which influences the quality of modern diagnostics and adequate therapy. As the feeling of the respiratory discomfort depends on the resistance to the respiration, the changes in pulmonary ventilation and gas exchange under the action of subthreshold resistive respiratory load (0.4 smH₂O·L^-1·s) not causing the dyspnoea were studied. The study included the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (21 people) of both sexes; the mean age was 59 years. It was revealed that the resistive load (0.4 smH₂O·L^-1·s) does not significantly affect the ventilation parameters. The breathing rate, a minute ventilation and the tidal volume did not change. But at the same time there was a decrease in the oxygen consumption by 18% and carbon dioxide release by 17%. The obtained results suggest that the reaction to the increased respiratory resistance is carried out on the brain level by a principle of perturbation and forecasting and is directed to the optimization of the energy balance of an organism in the response to the disturbance of lung ventilation.