Abstract
Reliable, accurate and noninvasive methods for measuring lung function in infants are desirable. Electromagnetic inductance plethysmography has been used to perform infant spirometry and VoluSense Pediatrics (VSP) (VoluSense, Bergen, Norway) represents an updated version of this technique. We aimed to examine its accuracy compared to a validated system measuring airflow via a facemask using an ultrasonic flowmeter.
We tested 30 infants with postmenstrual ages between 36 to 43 weeks and weights from 2.3 to 4.8 kg, applying both methods simultaneously and applying VSP alone. Agreement between the methods was calculated using Bland–Altman analyses and we also estimated the effect of applying the mask.
Mean differences for all breathing parameters were within ±5.5% and limits of agreement between the two methods were acceptable, except perhaps for peak tidal expiratory flow (PTEF). Application of the facemask significantly increased tidal volume, minute ventilation, PTEF, the ratio of inspiratory to expiratory time and the ratio of expiratory flow at 50% of expired volume to PTEF.
VSP accurately measured tidal breathing parameters and seems well suited for tidal breathing measurements in infants under treatment with equipment that precludes the use of a facemask.
Abstract
Accuracy of VoluSense Pediatrics http://ow.ly/BIFS304sheG
Footnotes
This article has supplementary material available from openres.ersjournals.com
Support statement: The major funding institutions were the Western Norway Regional Health Authority and University of Bergen. The vests were sponsored by the manufacturer (VoluSense, Bergen, Norway) but the rest of the equipment used (VoluSense Pediatrics) was owned by Haukeland University Hospital. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Open Funder Registry.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside this article at openres.ersjournals.com
- Received May 31, 2016.
- Accepted August 31, 2016.
- Copyright ©ERS 2016.
This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.