Estimation of Cardiopulmonary Parameters using Quasi-Optimal Inputs

The present study demonstrates that accurate estimates of cardiac output and other related cardiopulmonary parameters can be obtained noninvasively from respiratory data by driving the system with an appropriately designed ventilatory input. This input consists of a sequence of 3 larger-than-normal breaths and a 12-second breathhold performed 3 times in succession over a total duration of 1 minute. Close attention is given to modeling and computational details in order to minimize the effects of random and systematic errors. The estimated total error is less than 9 percent in all the parameters.