The CapnoTrainer^®

The CapnoTrainer® is a capnograph, a capnometer, an instrument used for monitoring exhaled carbon dioxide (CO₂), more specifically End Tidal partial pressure carbon dioxide (ETCO2). Capnometers are used worldwide in emergency medicine, in critical care, and during surgery for monitoring purposes; these are medical applications.

The CapnoTrainer® provides for educational applications. The CapnoTrainer® has been specifically designed and manufactured for evaluating, observing, and learning breathing behaviour. It is not intended for diagnosis and treatment. The instrument is for CapnoLearning™, which is about you and your body learning new behaviours, as partners, in improving health and performance. Most anyone can get involved. We all breathe, and we all breathe differently based on our own personal learning experiences. The CapnoTrainer® makes CapnoLearning™ possible.

The CapnoTrainer® is a combination hardware-software system that provides for real-time computer displays of partial pressure carbon dioxide (PCO2) while breathing, both during the inhale and the exhale. During the inhale the instrument reads effectively “zero,” as there is only a very small amount of CO2 in atmospheric air, about 0.3 mmHg (mm of mercury) as compared to a total atmospheric pressure of 760 mmHg (at sea level). During the exhale it rises sharply to the average level of PCO2 in the alveoli (basic gas exchange units) of the lungs, rising very slowly during the transition from exhale to inhale (alveolar plateau), and eventually reaching a peak value immediately prior to the next inhale. This peak value of PCO₂ can be thought of as the “End of the Tide” of air, or ETCO₂. This waveform is a capnogram.

CAPNOGRAM

In a lung-healthy and cardiovascular-healthy people End Tidal CO2  (ETCO2) is generally equivalent to alveolar Partial pressure carbon dioxide (PCO2), which is itself equivalent to arterial Partial pressure carbon dioxide (PaCO2). Low levels of PaCO2, a physiological condition known as hypocapnia, may trigger, cause, or exacerbate a wide variety of physical and mental symptoms and deficits. Hypocapnia is the consequence of overbreathing behaviour. When your breathing behaviour results in PaCO2 levels below 35 mmHg, you are considered to be hypocapnic: 30-35 mmHg is mild to moderate, 25-30 mmHg is serious, and 20-25 mmHg is severe hypocapnia. CapnoLearning™ is about learning breathing behaviours that improve PaCO₂ chemistry (internal respiration).

The CapnoTrainer® computer display presents the waveform, or capnogram, in various graphical and digital formats, which allows you to observe air flow where even minor shifts in breathing pattern can be observed, e.g., gasping. It also presents live continuous updating of ETCO₂ and breathing rate history graphs.

Click here for a brochure of the CapnoTrainer®.