Analog Computer Analysis of Flow Characteristics and Volume of the Pulmonary Vascular Bed

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Abstract
Radioisotope dilution data were obtained from the pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein of catheterized dogs and an analysis for pulmonary transfer characteristics was performed with an electronic analog computer. The analog for these studies consisted of a cascade of linear delay units arranged so that both transport delay and dispersion could be independently varied. This technic makes it possible to characterize the pulmonary vascular bed without making any assumptions as to its nature. The results indicate that the dominant response of the lung is not that of a single mixing pool as suggested by Newman and others, but rather is more analogous to a laminar flow system. In addition it has been shown that an exponential extrapolation of the downslopes of the indicator dilution curves to calculate pulmonary blood volume results in a measurable error.