Lung Function in Health and Disease: Basic Concepts of Respiratory Physiology and Pathophysiology

This reference presents basic concepts of respiratory function in normal and diseased states. The volume stresses a quantitative approach to physical parameters used as indicators of normal and diseased respiratory functions. The contents of this reference encourages medical students, residents and fellows to become “clinical detectives”, by presenting information aimed at enhancing their understanding of how normal respiratory mechanisms are altered by diseases that affect pulmonary ventilation and/or blood perfusion, tissue oxygenation, acid-base balance, respiratory mechanics, oxygen and carbon dioxide transport, control of breathing, and so on. This book is intended for first and second year medical students as well as for residents and fellows, especially in disciplines such as anesthesiology and pulmonary medicine. In addition, the unique mechanistic approach of this book also provides a useful reference for teachers of respiratory physiology who are not involved in respiratory research or have not been specifically trained in organ-system physiology; this book fills this gap by providing modern physiology faculty some tools for learning the “nuts-and-bolts” of lung physiology and pathophysiology.