Patent ID: 8876728

Claim:
A system configured to quantify lung compliance of a subject that is at least partially self-ventilating, the system comprising: a pressure support device configured to generate a pressurized flow of breathable gas to be delivered to the airway of a subject that is at least partially self-ventilating; one or more sensors configured to generate one or more output signals conveying information about one or more parameters of the pressurized flow of breathable gas; and one or more processors operatively linked with the pressure support device and the one or more sensors, the one or more processors being configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the one or more computer program modules comprising: a control module configured to control the pressure support device to adjust pressure of the pressurized flow of breathable gas during a series of consecutive breaths of the subject; a pressure module configured to determine the pressure to which the pressurized flow of breathable gas should be adjusted by the control module during the series of consecutive breaths such that for a first inhalation the pressure is adjusted to a first pressure and for a second inhalation proximate in time to the first inhalation the pressure is adjusted to a second pressure that is different from the first pressure; a transition module configured to identify a first transition point of the first inhalation and a second transition point of the second inhalation based on the one or more output signals generated by the one or more sensors, wherein the first transition point is identified at or near a point in time at which peak flow of the pressurized flow of breathable gas occurs during the first inhalation and the second transition point is identified at or near a point in time at which the peak flow of the pressurized flow of breathable gas occurs during the second inhalation; and a compliance module configured to quantify lung compliance of the subject based on the difference between the first pressure and the second pressure and the one or more output signals generated by the one or more sensors during the first inhalation and the second inhalation, wherein for the purposes of quantifying lung compliance the compliance module considers the first inhalation to have begun at the first transition point and considers the second inhalation to have begun at the second transition point.