Chest Shape Research Articles

Measuring the human chest with structured lighting

Some optical techniques for the measurement of the shape of the human chest, and of how that shape changes during respiration, are reviewed. Difficulties with conventional techniques of shape recovery are discussed. A microcomputer based implementation of a new technique (spSPIES) is described together with practical aspects of such a system.

Changes in rib cage geometry during childhood.

Age related changes in rib cage geometry were found from measurements made on chest radiographs from 38 individuals aged from 1 month to 31 years and on computed tomography (CT) scans in another 28 individuals, aged from 3 months to 18 years. Chest radiographs were taken for minor respiratory symptoms or fever and only films showing no abnormality were used. CT scans were obtained in children undergoing staging for solid tumours in whom no intrathoracic deposits were found. In infants and very young children the ribs were found to be more horizontal and the sternal clavicular heads and diaphragmatic domes higher than in older children and young adults. Most of these changes were observed in the first two years of life, with something close to the adult pattern by the age of 2 years. Similarly cross sectional chest shape changed from the rounded infantile form to the more ovoid adult form by the same age. The configuration of the ribs observed in infancy and early childhood reduces the potential for thoracic expansion and may contribute to the frequency of respiratory problems found in the very young.

Relationship between cigarette smoking, chest size and body size in health-screened adult males.

Previous investigations have shown that chest dimensions and pulmonary function are positively correlated in healthy individuals. It is not known, however, whether the pulmonary effects of cigarette smoking may modify chest size during adulthood. The present study used cross-sectional data from 1557 healthy male participants in the Normative Aging Study of the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, Boston. Because elastic recoil of the lung is decreased in cigarette smokers, we hypothesized that chest circumference would increase while chest expandability would decrease in these individuals. Preliminary analyses showed that smokers differed from non-smokers and former smokers in age, weight and fatness. For this reason, associations of chest dimensions with smoking status were evaluated after statistical correction for age and body size. With men of all ages grouped, chest expansion of smokers was significantly lower than non-smokers, but their chest size and shape were similar. When covariance analyses were performed separately for men under 50 and over 50 years, older smokers were characterized by slightly larger chests than non-smokers or former smokers, though there was no difference among younger men. Results of this study indicate that external chest dimensions of cigarette smokers reflect the pulmonary changes they experience, and demonstrate that a portion of the increased variability in chest measurements seen in older individuals is attributable to cigarette smoking.

Effect of shape and size of lung and chest wall on stresses in the lung.

Conflicting results have been reported on the changes in the distribution of pleural pressures caused by alterations of chest shape. To understand better the effect of shape and size of lung and chest wall on the distribution of stresses, strains, and surface pressures, we analyzed a theoretical model using the technique of finite elements. The study was in two parts. First we investigated the effects of changing the chest wall shape during expansion, and second we studied lungs of a variety of inherent shapes and sizes. We found that, in general, the distributions of alveolar size, mechanical stresses, and surface pressures in the lungs were dominated by the weight of the lung and that changing the shape of the lung or chest wall had relatively little effect. Only at high states of expansion where the lung was very stiff did changing the shape of the chest wall cause substantial changes. Altering the inherent shape of the lung generally had little effect but the topographical differences in stresses and surface pressures were approximately proportional to lung height. The results are generally consistent with those found in dog by Hoppin et al. (J. Appl. Physiol. 27: 863-873, 1969).

Respiration and Personality--a Preliminary Report

Summary A study has been undertaken of respiratory tracings with special references to psychological correlations. We use an ordinary metabolism apparatus, with very low resistance to respiration, and enlarged so as to be able to include the vital capacity on the same tracing. In describing the curves we consider rate, depth, respiratory level, rounding of tips, "hooks, " "squares" (breath-holding) and "spikes." Averages for the Institute group are given. The tracings are quite individual and relatively constant in approximately 75 per cent of the cases. No correlations with chest shape were found. Respiratory efficiencies varied from 8 to 32 liters of oxygen breathed for one liter absorbed. Spirograms were obtained from small groups of asthmatics, hebephrenics and paranoids. A study of correlations between the records and the intaking and eliminating tendencies of the individual is now in progress.

A comparison of percussion and radiography in locating the heart and superior mediastinal vessels

The deep dullness of heart and superior mediastinal vessels was percussed on 110 male university students (erect and recumbent) by one physician, wire markers were fastened to their chests, and teleoradiographic films were taken. All results were analyzed statistically. In these students the mean errors (difference between percussion and x-ray borders) were less than 1 cm. in most intercostal spaces; but much greater allowance for possible error had to be made in percussing any one individual—for example, a range of over 3.5 cm. in the fourth left intercostal space in erect students. The differences in error between erect and recumbent positions could be largely attributed to dispersion of x-rays. For practical purposes the variation between two percussions on the same student was as great as between different students because the correlation between the errors in repeated percussion of the same students, although significant, was low. From one-third to one-half of the variation in the cardiac (but not the superior mediastinal) region was attributable to diaphragm movement, owing to the impossibility of securing the same midphase of respiration on any two occasions. The risk of wide error in any individual percussion could be greatly lessened by taking the average of several independent readings, thereby reducing the effect of diaphragm movement. Stature, weight, and chest size or shape had no important relationship to the percussion error. Ten students, taken at random, sufficed to show the difference in error of two experienced physicians. Since each observer should know his own percussion error, the amount of information obtainable from a small series of films is illustrated.

An orthodiagraphic study of 291 college students who showed no evidence of heart disease

1. 1. Orthodiagrams were made in 291 male students between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six years, with no evidence of cardiovascular disease. 2. 2. The measurements suggest that the predicted figures of Eyster and Hodges may be too high for young male adults: that the predicted area is approximately 10 per cent too high, and the predicted transverse diameter 0.5 cm. too long. 3. 3. Hearts which were small in the frontal plane frequently had a small anteroposterior diameter. 4. 4. The shape of the heart varied greatly. It was influenced by (a) physique, (b) height of diaphragm, (c) shape of chest, and (d) spinal deformity. In the vertical or ptotic heart the region of the pulmonary artery was frequently prominent. When combined with a straight left border, it sometimes simulated a “mitral heart”. 5. 5. In many cases the shadow of the proximal portion of the descending aorta could be seen above the heart. 6. 6. Measurements of the heart size as well as empirical determinations of cardiac shape should be interpreted with a knowledge of their limitations. In many instances the presence or absence of pathological enlargement of the heart cannot be determined on the basis of x-ray measurements alone. 7. 7. In patients without demonstrable cardiac disease there may be an association between the small heart and tachycardia on one hand, and between the large heart and bradycardia on the other. However, our data do not supply convincing evidence upon this question.

Knud Faber. The Relation between the Shape of the Chest and the Shape and Position of the Stomach

Knud Faber. The Relation between the Shape of the Chest and the Shape and Position of the Stomach