The History of Spirometer

The history of the spirometer device for measuring a patient's ability to breath begins in ancient Rome. An English surgeon developed the first fully functioning spirometer during the mid-19th century while treating black lung (coal miners) and tuberculosis patients. He also named this measurement as the "vital capacity" (the capacity to live) of a patient. The evolution of the modern spirometer includes the functionality of the machine for different uses to diagnose and treat respiratory, heart and other maladies of patients.

Greek Doctor in Rome

• Greek doctor Claudius Galen, practicing in Rome in the first century A.D., had a young boy breath in and out of an animal bladder to determine the volume of air the lungs hold. Further documentation of such studies came many centuries later.

James Jurin and Stephen Hales

• In the early 18th century, James Jurin was the first scientist to record accurate amounts of air by blowing into a bladder. Within millimeters he gauged the maximum amount of air anyone can possibly exhale. Nearly a decade later, Stephen Hales' experiments confirmed Jurin's findings. Known for his detail and meticulous work ethic, Hales influenced the need for accurate measurements in spirometry. His clarification of respiratory gases in the lungs further added to the evolution of the spirometer development and use.

John Hutchinson's Spirometer

• Well into the 1840s, London surgeon John Hutchinson recognized lifestyle or occupation as critical to the state of health of a patient. Recognized as the inventor of the spirometer, he also understood that health put certain patients "at risk" for diseases that include heart, lung, stroke and respiratory cancer. His records of using his spirometer to measure the vital capacity of more than 4,000 persons set a precedent for the medical world in understanding prevention and treatment of patients. Hutchinson's spirometer was a calibrated bell he inverted in water to capture the exhaled air of patients' lungs. Hutchinson's original spirometer is part of 21st century medicine, with just the minor changes of a lighter bell, graphics and timing indicators.

Abernathy

• Understanding depletion of oxygen in the lung function is essential to the use of the spirometer. Late 18th century doctor and teacher John Abernathy's experiments proved exhaled lung air always contains less oxygen than inhaled air because the body has to use what oxygen it needs in order to function.

19th Century Contributions

• Experiments with a gasometer allowed Sir Humphry Davy to make calculations of oxygen consumption resulting in carbon dioxide production--one of the main measurements exercise physiologists use today to indirectly but accurately rate the energy used in a patient's body. Researchers E. Kentish and Charles Turner Thackrah used a jar inverted into water to determine respiratory amounts and the power of expiratory muscles. Karl von Vierordt focused his experiments on exhaled gases for developing volumetric parameters (baselines for amounts of exhaled gases). Still used in modern spirometry, Vierordt's parameters include residual volume (amounts after exhalation) and vital capacity. These types of 19th century contributions paved the way for other uses of the spirometer in modern medicine.