Comparison of CO2 rebreathing and acetylene methods for cardiac output.

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The cardiac output during rest and work was determined by a CO2 rebreathing method as suggested by Defares. The partial pressure of CO2 in the mixed venous blood (PvCOCO2) was calculated from the rise of the CO2 percent in a Grollman bag during rebreathing. In the rest experiments the partial pressure of CO2 in arterial blood (PaCOCO2) was obtained from analysis of alveolar samples taken by the Haldane-Priestley direct sampling method. In the work experiments the PaCOCO2 was calculated using the Bohr formula and a dead space estimated from Asmussen and Nielsen's data. The metabolic rate including both O2 uptake and CO2 output was determined by the Douglas bag method. In each experiment the acetylene method as described by Christensen was applied after the CO2 rebreathing method. The values obtained by the two methods were almost identical, the standard deviation for all experiments being ±7.3%, and were of the same magnitude as those obtained by others with the dye-dilution or direct Fick method both during rest and work. cardiac output at rest and work; arterial Pco2 and venous Pco2 at rest and work; stroke volume at rest and work Submitted on November 25, 1964