Comparison of two airway occlusion methods for determining the compliance of the respiratory system (Crs) in newborn infants.
We investigated 11 spontaneously newborn infants (birth weight 1400 to 3120 g) on their first day of life. Measuring inspired gas volume (VI) and the mouth pressure obtained at inspiratory airway occlusion (Pocc) we calculated the compliance of the respiratory system (Crs): a) by linear regression analysis of the VI/Pocc measurements obtained at various VI (Olinsky, et al., 1976) and b) as the mean of 3 endinspiratory VI/Pocc measurements (modified airway occlusion method (Simbruner et al., 1982). There was a close linear correlation between the Crs values obtained by both methods (r = 0.98, p less than 0.001; Crs(a) = 0.669 x Crs(b) + 0.428), indicating that the simpler modified airway occlusion method (b) may be used instead of the original method (a) for determining Crs on the first day of life in spontaneously breathing newborn infants.