CVS 8 - Special Circulations Flashcards
Describe the systemic circulation pathway
- Oxygenated blood is carried away from the heart and to the body
- Deoxygenated blood is carried from the tissues back to the heart
- A parallel system
Where is the output of the systemic circulation?
Left ventricle
Describe the pulmonary circulation pathway
- Deoxygenated blood is carried away from the heart and to the lungs
- Oxygenated blood is carried from the lungs and back to the heart
- A system in series
Where is the output of the pulmonary circulation?
Right ventricle
Describe the pressure and resistance of the pulmonary circulation. Why is it this way?
- Low pressure
- Low resistance
- Vessels are short and wide
- Lots of capillaries
- Low amount of smooth muscle in arterioles
What is the pressure in the pulmonary artery?
- 15-30mmHg (systolic)
- 4-12mmHg (diastolic)
What is the pressure in the pulmonary capillaries?
9-12mmHg
What is the pressure in the pulmonary veins?
5mmHg
What is the pressure range of the right atrium?
0-8mmHg
What is the pressure range of the right ventricle?
- 15-30mmHg (systolic)
- 0-8mmHg (diastolic)
What is the pressure range of the left atrium?
- 1-10mmHg
What is the pressure range of the left ventricle?
- 100-140mmHg (systolic)
- 1-10mmHg (diastolic)
What is the ventilation-perfusion ratio? What is its optimal value?
- The matching of alveolar ventilation and alveolar perfusion with blood to give efficient oxygenation
- 0.8 (no units)
What is the equation for ventilation-perfusion ratio? What is v? What is q?
- v/q
- v = ventilation (amount of air in and out of the lung)
- q = perfusion (cardiac output)
What does a high VQ ratio signify? What does a low VQ ratio signify?
- High = high ventilation, low perfusion
- Low = high ventilation, high perfusion (can’t saturate O2 to match perfusion)
What is VQ mismatch? What can it result in?
- Areas of both high VQ and low VQ
- Leads to different levels of saturation which can lead to a lower overall oxygen saturation
How can VQ mismatch lead to a lower overall oxygen saturation?
- Areas of high perfusion and decreased saturation outweigh other areas due to a higher number of red blood cells
- Can lead to hypoxia
What can cause VQ mismatch?
- Pulmonary embolism (leads to areas of no perfusion = high VQ)
- Pneumonia
What is hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction
- Adaptive response to hypoxia
- Causes a decreased perfusion rate (Q) if the ventilation of alveoli is decreased
- Optimises gas exchange
How does the response of the pulmonary circulation to hypoxia differ to that of the systemic circulation?
Response of systemic circulation is to increase perfusion rate due to metabolite build up
What can happen if hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction becomes chronic?
- Can increase vascular resistance = chronic pulmonary hypertension
- Increases pressure of right ventricle = failure
What is tissue fluid?
Extracellular fluid that contains neither RBCs nor plasma proteins
What are the starling forces?
- Hydrostatic pressure = pressure exerted by the blood in the capillary (pushes water out)
- Colloid oncotic pressure = pressure exerted by the proteins in the plasma (pulls water in)
What can happen due to an increase in hydrostatic pressure in the pulmonary system? How can this be treated?
- Movement of fluid out into the tissues due to an increase in capillary pressure = oedema
- Impairment of gas exchange
- Treated by diuretics/ underlying problem is treated