1. A measure of the distensibility of a chamber expressed as a change in volume per unit change in pressure. 2. The consistency and accuracy with which a patient follows the regimen prescribed by a physician or other health professional. Cf.:adherence (2), maintenance. 3. A measure of the ease with which a structure or substance may be deformed. In medicine and physiology, usually a measure of the ease with which a hollow viscus ( e.g., lung, urinary bladder, gallbladder) may be distended, i.e., the volume change resulting from the application of a unit pressure differential between the inside and outside of the viscus; the reciprocal of elastance. [M.E. fr. O.Fr., fr. L. compleo, to fulfill]
- bladder c. change in volume of bladder for a given change in pressure; can be calculated from a cytometrogram's pressure volume curve. SYN: c. of bladder, detrusor c..
- dynamic c. of lung the value obtained when lung c. is estimated during breathing by dividing the tidal volume by the difference in instantaneous transpulmonary pressures at the ends of the respiratory excursions, when flow in the airway is momentarily zero; this value deviates markedly from static c. in patients in whom resistances and compliances are not uniform throughout the lung ( i.e., uneven time constants).
- c. of heart the reciprocal of passive or diastolic stiffness of the ventricle of the heart, most commonly of the left ventricle; one may distinguish between c. of the muscle and c. of the supportive structures, although ordinarily both are considered together (chamber c.); a hypertrophied or scarred heart will manifest a stiff wall, i.e., decreased c..
- specific c. 1. the c. of a structure divided by its initial volume; 2. more specifically for the lungs, the c. divided by the functional residual capacity.
- static c. the value obtained when c. is measured at true equilibrium, i.e., in the absence of any motion.
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1) the ability or process of yielding to changes in pressure without disruption of structure or function <a study of pulmonary \compliance> <the tone of colonic muscle as judged by \compliance of the gut wall (S. C. Truelove)>
2) the process of complying with a regimen of treatment <simplified drug regimens may encourage better \compliance>
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com·pli·ance (kəm-pliґəns) 1. the quality of yielding to pressure or force without disruption. 2. an expression of the ability to yield to pressure without disruption, such as the distensibility of an air- or fluid-filled organ, e.g., the lung or urinary bladder, measured in terms of unit of volume change per unit of pressure change. Symbol C. It is the reciprocal of elastance.Medical dictionary. 2011.