Pulmonary oxygen consumption: a hypothesis to explain the increase in oxygen consumption of low birth weight infants with lung disease

Abstract. Objective: We determined pulmonary oxygen consumption (VO2lung) in low-birthweight infants with acute lung disease to help explain the greater whole-body oxygen consumption (VO2wb) in these infants with than in those without lung disease. Methods and materials: Eleven infants (birth weight 1,076±364 g; gestational age 28±3 weeks) undergoing mechanical ventilation for respiratory distress syndrome were studied in their first week of …