One aspect in the measurement of ventricular volume using the conductance catheter technique is the assessment of parallel electrical conductivity of structures extrinsic to the ventricular blood pool. Because it is sometimes necessary to make volume measurements during ventilation or spontaneous respiration, the extent to which parallel conductance may vary with lung insufflation was investigated. Anesthetized pigs (11-15 kg) were ventilated and instrumented with both left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) conductance and pressure-tip catheters and end-hole catheters for injection of hypertonic saline into the inferior vena cava and pulmonary artery. Data were recorded during ventilation with tidal volumes of 10 and 20 ml/kg, and the associated fluctuations to LV and RV end-diastolic (EDV) and stroke (SV) volumes were measured. With the use of a saline dilution technique, parallel conductance (Vc) was determined for each ventricle with the ventilator off and lungs insufflated to 0, 10, and 20 ml/kg. Whereas ventilation caused marked oscillations in LV and RV EDV and SV, these variations could not be attributed to Vc, which remained statistically unchanged from their baseline values of 34.1 +/- 3.1 in the LV and 31.1 +/- 4.4 in the RV. These results indicate that the fluctuations that occur in conductance catheter-derived LV and RV volume signals with ventilation are not caused by any significant changes to parallel conductance.