Oscillometry: old physiology with a bright future

Taking an ancient notion from Roman and Medieval authors [1], Isaac Newton wrote to Robert Hooke: ‘if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’ [2]. This reasoning feels particularly true in the field of respiratory physiology. In 1956, Arthur DuBois helped describe a new method of measuring the lung volume of a person in a sealed chamber by measuring the pressure changes at the mouth and within the container [3]. Body plethysmography was born and is now used across the world in the diagnosis and management of many respiratory conditions. In the same year, DuBois and colleagues analysed the mechanical properties of the respiratory system during tidal breathing when an oscillating pressure was applied at high frequencies [4], and in 1968, Grimby and colleagues suggested that airway resistance in patients with obstructive lung diseases depends on the oscillation frequency [5]. This respiratory mechanics approach, which we reviewed in a previous editorial [6], is now called oscillometry, although many will know it better as the forced oscillation technique. It is much less well known than plethysmography and has been slower to make its way into clinical practice. Why is this?
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research