Plethysmography – A Review

Abstract

A plethysmograph is an instrument for measuring changes in volume within a biological system. The whole-body plethysmograph consists of a rigid chamber, of comparable size and shape to an enclosed telephone booth, in which the subject sits while breathing through a pneumotachograph. Pressure transducers of varying sensitivity are arrayed to measure the pressure across the pneumotachograph (flow), the pressure variations across the wall of the plethysmograph and pressure at the airway opening. The basic principle of the variable-pressure plethysmograph is that changes in PA may be inferred from difference in plethysmograph pressure.

Keyword: breathing, flow, plethysmograph, pressure

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