Vd/Vt test in the detection of pulmonary dysfunction in sepsis

Dyspnea and tachypnea are the leading signs of pulmonary dysfunction in sepsis. With regards to present knowledge of pathophysiology and pathogenesis of the pulmonary dysfunction, the real reasons for this phenomena are still not researched enough. It is our assumption that one of the underlying causes is in the increased ventilation of the physiological dead space due to the mismatch of the pulmonary ventilation and perfusion. In sepsis, equal to change in systemic, there are changes in pulmonary circulation, often with pulmonary hypotension and decreased pulmonary vascular resistance. To investigate this we used a simple test to measure the ventilation of the dead space using the Vd/Vt test.