Vital capacity

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Vital capacity is the maximum volume of air that a person can exhale after maximum inhalation.

A person's vital capacity can be measured by a spirometer which can be a wet or regular spirometer.(spirometry). In combination with other physiological measurements, the vital capacity can help make a diagnosis of underlying lung disease.

Vital capacity is the maximum amount of air a person can expel from the lungs after first filling the lungs to their maximum extent and then expiring to the maximum extent (about 4600 milliters). It equals the inspiratory reserve volume plus the tidal volume plus the expiratory reserve volume.

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• GPnotebook -1281753041
• FPnotebook LUN102

v • d • e Respiratory system, physiology: respiratory physiology

Volumes: lung volumes - vital capacity - functional residual capacity - respiratory minute volume - dead space - spirometry - body plethysmography - peak flow meter ventilation (V) (positive pressure) breath (inhalation, exhalation) - respiratory rate - respirometer - pulmonary surfactant - compliance - hysteresivity - airway resistance pulmonary circulation - perfusion (Q) - hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction - pulmonary shunt ventilation/perfusion ratio (V/Q) and scan - zones of the lung - gas exchange - pulmonary gas pressures - alveolar gas equation - hemoglobin - oxygen-haemoglobin dissociation curve (2,3-DPG, Bohr effect, Haldane effect) - carbonic anhydrase (chloride shift) - oxyhemoglobin - respiratory quotient - arterial blood gas - diffusion capacity - Dlco control of respiration: pons (pneumotaxic center, apneustic center) - medulla (dorsal respiratory group, ventral respiratory group) - chemoreceptors (central, peripheral) - pulmonary stretch receptors - Hering-Breuer reflex high altitude - oxygen toxicity - hypoxia