Diagnostic Insights from Plethysmographic Alveolar Pressure Assessed during Spontaneous Breathing in COPD Patients

Since its introduction in the clinical practice, body plethysmography has assisted pneumologists in the diagnosis of respiratory diseases and patients’ follow-up, by providing easy assessment of absolute lung volumes and airway resistance. In the last decade, emerging evidence suggested that estimation of alveolar pressure by electronically-compensated plethysmographs may contain information concerning the mechanics of the respiratory system which goes beyond those provided by the simple value of airway resistance or conductance. Indeed, the systematic study of expiratory alveolar pressure-flow loops produced during spontaneous breathing at rest has shown that the marked expansion of expiratory loops in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients mainly reflects the presence of tidal expiratory flow-limitation. The presence of this phenomenon can be accurately predicted on the basis of loop-derived parameters. Finally, we present results suggesting that plethysmographic alveolar pressure may be used to estimate non-invasively intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEPi) in spontaneously breathing patients, a task which previously could be only accomplished by introducing a balloon-tipped catheter in the esophagus.