Comparison of experimental and calculated data for the total and regional deposition in the human lung.

Models for the deposition of aerosol particles in the human respiratory tract have been described in literature. Recently data have become available for the extrathoracic, bronchial and pulmonary deposition (Stahlhofen et al., 1980, 1983, 1984; Heyder, 1984). Here data on the total and regional deposition calculated with different mathematical deposition models are compared with each other and with these experimental data for mouth breathing. The calculated results on total deposition show only small differences for different lung structures, particle deposition equations and computation methods. An exception is the model which ends with alveoli at the nineteenth generation according to the lung structure model of Weibel (1963). The calculated bronchial deposition is much larger than the corresponding experimental data, particularly for particle sizes of less than 2 μm. Several possible explanations of this effect are discussed