Method of Exhaled Gas Measurement and Analysis and Apparatus Therefor
AssigneeOtsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
InventorsYasuhiro Kubo, Masaaki Mori
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An exhalation collected in a breath bag capable of expanding and contracting is sucked into a gas inlet vessel 21 with a given volume (Va), and then the gas inlet vessel 21 is communicated by means of valve V2 with a cell 11 that is maintained at an atmospheric pressure by being pre-filled with a sample gas or reference gas. After the communication, the gas pressure is measured by a pressure sensor 16 attached to the cell 11. Whether the exhalation collected in the breath bag is below a given amount or not can be accurately judged.
Claims9
A method of exhaled gas measurement and analysis, comprising the steps of:
- (a) collecting an exhalation of a human body including carbon dioxide 13C02 and carbon dioxide 12C02 as component gases into a breath bag capable of expanding and contracting;
- (b) sucking a predetermined volume of the exhalation collected in the breath bag into a gas inlet vessel;
- (c) measuring a pressure of the exhalation in the gas inlet vessel;
- (d) cancelling a measurement upon determining that a amount of the exhalation collected in the breath bag is insufficient when the measured pressure value is below an atmospheric pressure;
- (e) pushing the gas inlet vessel to fill a cell communicated with the gas inlet vessel with the exhalation when the measured pressure value is equal to the atmospheric pressure;
- and
- (f) measuring intensities of light transmitted through the cell having wavelengths at which light is transmitted through the respective component gases, followed by data processing based thereon, thereby measuring 13C02 concentration or concentration ratio of carbon dioxide 13C02 to carbon dioxide 12C02.
-10. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.