Respiratory system pulmonary compliance

Respiratory System. Tidal volume, bronchial resistance, compliance, pulmonary arterial pressure, blood gases. 

Two important parameters of respiratory mechanics are resistances and compliances (compliance is the name given to capacity in fluid flow systems—see Sections 2.1 and 2.9). Resistances to air flow are distributed throughout the respiratory airways, lung tissue, and chest wall. The upper (larger) airways are usually considered separately from the lower airways because they have different mechanical properties and higher flow rates. The relationship between pulmonary resistance (excluding upper airway resistance) and body mass is seen in Figure 7.4.15, and equations are (Johnson, 2007)... 

Pulmonary administration of medicines currently has the primary objective to achieve local effects in the respiratory tract of patients with chronic diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF). For half a century, inhalation therapy has been the cornerstone in the management of these diseases and the often life-time therapies aim to suppress inflammatory processes and bacterial infection in order to reduce hospitalisations and to improve the patient s quality of life. They also give relief to the patient in moments of bronchoconstriction. The advantages of pulmonary administration of medicines for local treatment are well known. The active substances are delivered directly to the site of action which leads to a faster response than via the systemic route. It may also result in higher local active substance concentrations and this could reduce the total dose by as much as a factor 10 compared to oral or intravenous administration. This has the advantage that systemic side effects are reduced and in combination with being a non-invasive method of administration, inhalation therapy may lead to better patient compliance. 

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