An improved method for airway assessment in children.

Respiratory mode determination using the simultaneous nasal and oral respirometric technique (SNORT) or a head-out body plethysmography can be time-consuming, expensive, and intimidating to children. We have developed an improved method for assessing respiratory mode that uses inductive plethysmography linked to a menu-driven computer program that circumvents some of these problems. An assessment of 29 subjects over as many as nine separate time points suggests that respiratory mode measurements remain fairly uniform in some children, but can vary significantly in others.