Investigation of Inspiratory Pressure-Volume Curves on Mechanically Ventilated Patients Using Least Square Polynomial Fit

Abstract An on-line method for the registration of pressure volume 1 oops TrT mechanically ventilated patients was developed using a personal computer with analog/digital interface. A third order polynomial function was fitted to the measured inspiratory pressure volume pairs. The significance of the fitting procedure was calculated using regression ANOVA. The inflection point of the pressure-volume curve was determinated by calculating the root of the second derivative of the polynomial. The method was teseted on 20 patients without major pulmonary dysfunction and on 6 patients with severe ARDS.