Category Archives: N2 Washout

Med-Science Series 3000 Pulmonary Function Testing System, 1984

Med-Science_Series_3000_Pulmonizer_1984

Performed spirometry, helium dilution lung volumes and single-breath DLCO. Could be upgraded to include closing volumes and N2 washout kung volumes. Used a wedge spirometer.  Came equipped with a top-of-the line IBM PC XT with dual 5-1/4″ floppy disk drives (!).  Photo is from a sales brochure courtesy of James Sullivan, BA, RPFT, Supervisor, Pulmonary Laboratories, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Fukuda Sangyo FUDAC-60 Pulmonary Testing System, 1984

Fukuda_Sangyo_FUDAC-60_1984

It came with a 10″ color CRT in 6 different models.  The basic unit was capable of performing spirometry, helium dilution lung volumes and single-breath DLCO. N2 washout lung volumes, closing volumes, steady-state DLCO and Viso-V (heliox spirometry) were options.  Photo is from a sales brochure courtesy of James Sullivan, BA, RPFT, Supervisor, Pulmonary Laboratories, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Gould 5000 IV Pulmonary Testing System, 1983

Gould_5000IV_Test_System_1983

The Gould 5000 IV was capable of performing spirometry, single-breath DLCO, closing volumes and either helium dilution or nitrogen washout lung volumes.  It came with a “large 9″ CRT for real-time graphics”.  Photo from a sales brochure courtesy of James Sullivan, BA, RPFT, Supervisor, Pulmonary Laboratories, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Hewlett Packard 47804S PFT System – 1979

Hewlett-Packard 47804S PFT System 1979

State of the art for 1979. Built around a Fleisch pneumotachograph and included an HP desktop computer (with 24K of memory and a tape drive!).  It was capable of performing spirometry, DLCO and N2 washout tests.  It was only manufactured for a couple of years and was discontinued likely because very few units were sold. It was quite expensive for the time (totally equipped it was $53,175 in 1979 dollars). From “Automated pulmonary function measurements” by Maurice R. Blais and John L. Fanton, Hewlett-Packard Journal, September 1979, page 20.