This study assess the possible impact of changes in the morphometry of acinar airways and air spaces on the efficacy of intrapulmonary gas mixing for sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) relative to that for helium (He). To that end the alveolar ventilations of He and SF6 were determined in patients with macroscopic lung emphysema and in healthy subjects. He-SF6 washout tests were performed in 17 patients (15 emphysema, 2 chronic bronchitis) and 21 healthy subjects. Using a three-compartment model, the data obtained were used to estimate the overall, effective, alveolar ventilations of SF6 and He, and their ratio VAASF6/VAHe. Mean VAASF6/VAHe (+/- S.D.) for patients (0.80 +/- 0.06) was significantly smaller (P < 0.001) than the value for the group of age-matched healthy subjects (0.90 +/- 0.05) which was non-significantly smaller than the result for the group of young, healthy subjects (0.93 +/- 0.03). In our patients, we also determined a score for emphysema using high resolution computed tomography, and this score correlated inversely with VAASF6/VAHe (r = -0.56, P = 0.018). We have interpreted our observations to mean that in patients with lung emphysema, the efficacy of intrapulmonary gas mixing for SF6 as compared with that for He reflected by VAASF6/VAHe is diminished due to increased diffusive path-lengths within the enlarged air spaces of their lungs which impair diffusive gas mixing for SF6 more than for He.