Tidal volume measurements in infants: Opto-electronic plethysmography versus pneumotachograph

Tidal breathing measurements by Opto-Electronic Plethysmography (OEP) has been reported for infants limited to protocols with two chest wall compartments. Standard protocol for the analysis of adults, with three compartments of chest wall, has been unavailable for analysis of infants. We aimed to study the agreement of simultaneous measurements of tidal volume by OEP (VT,OEP) and a heated pneumotachograph (PNT) (VT,PNT) performed during sleeping in 20 infants (gestational age 35.1 ± 4.6 weeks) at 3–4 months postconceptual age with a three compartment protocol. From PNT and OEP measurements, tidal volume corrected (VT,PNT) for ambient conditions were calculated with a total number of 200 breaths. The two methods were in good agreement with tidal volume mean difference of 0.02 ml and limit of agreement −4.11 to 4.08 ml (95%CI), no relationship was found between differences and means of OEP and PNT measurements. Pulmonary rib cage, abdominal rib cage and abdomen contributed by 12.4 ± 9.7%, 5.2 ± 5.1%, and 82.4 ± 11.4% to VT,OEP, respectively. The OEP experimental protocol based on 52 markers and a three-compartment model of the chest wall could be used in spontaneously sleeping infants. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2016;51:850–857. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.