Reply to the letter to the Editor by Derakhshan: Laterality of motor control and breathing

摘要

We thank Dr Derakhshan for his comments and for his clarification on motor control of diaphragmatic excursion. However, he regrettably misquotes two points of our manuscript. Firstly, Table I was correct, and the mean amplitude of the right hemidiaphragmatic movement during spontaneous breathing in the control group was less than that of the left hemidiaphragmatic movement in our study. Similar to our study, Wade and Alexander reported that diaphragmatic excursion was greater on the left side in healthy subjects. Kirju et al showed that motions in the right and left hemidiaphragms changed with posture. Therefore, we performed all sonographic exams in the same supine position to avoid postural changes.