The lung volume in hyperkinetic states.

Previous publications from this department have defined the normal range of the total lung volume and its subdivisions (Whitfield et al., 1950 a, b, & c) and the changes that take place in low output cardiac syndromes (Richards et aL, 1951). The present paper describes the results of study of the lung volume in hyperkinetic states. The subjects selected for this investigation were patients suffering from anemia or hyperthyroidism. Sharpey-Schafer (1944, 1945) and Brannon et al. (1945) have shown that in anemic states the cardiac output is raised and similar changes were demonstrated in hyperthyroid subjects by Davies et al. (1924), Liljestrand and Stenstrom (1925-26), Robinson (1926), Burwell et al. (1929), Fullerton and Harrop (1930), Boothby and Rynearson (1935), and Gladstone (1936). The cardiac output of a small group of hyperthyroid subjects has been determined by cardiac catheterization in this department and in each case it has been found to be grossly elevated. Davies et al. (1924), Fullerton and Harrop (1930), and Boothby and Rynearson (1935) also showed that in hyperthyroidism the cardiac output returned to normal as the basal metabolic rate decreased following partial thyroidectomy. Rabinowitch (1923) determined the vital capacity in nearly 200 patients suffering from hyperthyroidism and found that it diminished as the basal metabolic rate increased. With rates of plus 90-100 per cent the vital capacity fell to 42 per cent of its normal while with lower rates (plus 2030%) the vital capacity was 79 per cent of its normal. Peabody and Wentworth (1917) found slight diminution in the vital capacity of 7 patients suffering from hyperthyroidism and 13 cases of anmmia. Lemon and Moersch (1924) found the vital capacity often reduced in hyperthyroidism but the reduction was unrelated to the degree of thyrotoxicosis. Patients suffering from emphysema have not been included in this study because of the changes in lung volume associated with that disorder.