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J Appl Physiol 84: 401-408, 1998;
8750-7587/98 $5.00
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Vol. 84, Issue 2, 401-408, February 1998

INVITED REVIEW
The alcohol breath test---a review

Michael P. Hlastala

Departments of Physiology and Biophysics and of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-6522

Hlastala, Michael P. The alcohol breath test---a review. J. Appl. Physiol. 84(2): 401-408, 1998.---The alcohol breath test (ABT) is evaluated for variability in response to changes in physiological parameters. The ABT was originally developed in the 1950s, at a time when understanding of pulmonary physiology was quite limited. Over the past decade, physiological studies have shown that alcohol is exchanged entirely within the conducting airways via diffusion from the bronchial circulation. This is in sharp contrast to the old idea that alcohol exchanges in the alveoli in a manner similar to the lower solubility respiratory gases (O2 and CO2). The airway alcohol exchange process is diffusion (airway tissue) and perfusion (bronchial circulation) limited. The dynamics of airway alcohol exchange results in a positively sloped exhaled alveolar plateau that contributes to considerable breathing pattern-dependent variation in measured breath alcohol concentration measurements.

airway gas exchange; soluble-gas exchange; forensics; bronchial circulation; diffusion limitation

The Journal of Applied Physiology 84(2):401-408
8750-7587/98 $5.00 Copyright © 1998 the American Physiological Society


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