Respiratory failure Flashcards
What is respiratory failure?
Impaired gas exchange
caused hypoxaemia and hypoxia
What is pO2 with respiratory failure?
Less than 8kPa
What is meant by O2 saturation?
% saturation of haemaglobin
What is O2 saturation with respiratory failure?
Less than 90%
What are the types of respiratory failure?
Type 1
Type 2
What is the difference between type 1 and type 2 respiratory failure?
Type 1 respiratory failure has normal or low pCO2
Type 2 respiratory failure has high pCO2, hypercapnia
What are the causes of type 1 respiratory failure?
Low inspired pO2
V/Q mismatch
Diffusion problem
Right to left shunt
What is V/Q mismatch?
V/Q ratio of less than 1
or more than 1
How does reduced ventilation of an alveolus affect its V/Q ratio?
V/Q ratio is less than 1
What is an alveolus’ pO2 and pCO2 with reduced ventilation?
Low pO2
because is inspiring less oxygen
High pCO2
because is expiring less carbon dioxide
What is the physiological response to an alveolus with low pO2? Why?
Pulmonary hypoxic vasoconstriction
to redirect blood to better ventilated alveoli
What is plasma pO2 and pCO2 of blood from an alveolus with reduced ventilation?
Low pO2
because less oxygen is diffusing from alveolus into pulmonary capillaries
High pCO2
because less carbon dioxide is diffusing from pulmonary capillaries into alveolus
What is the physiological response to low plasma pO2?
Stimulates peripheral chemoreceptors
stimulates increased alveolar ventilation
How does increased alveolar ventilation affect the low alveolar pO2 and high alveolar pCO2?
Affected alveolus still has low pO2 and high pCO2
Normal alveoli have high pO2 and low pCO2
How does increased alveolar ventilation affect the low plasma pO2 and high plasma pCO2?
Blood from affected alveolus still has low pO2 and high pCO2
Blood from normal alveoli have small increase in plasma pO2, also Hb is fully saturated so no increase in bound O2, overall small increase in total content of O2
decrease in pCO2 because expiring more carbon dioxide
Overall, plasma pO2 still low
plasma pCO2 decreased to normal
What are some of the causes of alveolar V/Q mismatch?
Asthma
Pulmonary edema
Pulmonary embolism
What conditions affect the respiratory membrane?
Fibrosis
Pulmonary oedema
How does fibrosis affect the respiratory membrane?
Fibrous tissue in respiratory membrane
increases thickness of respiratory membrane
How does pulmonary oedema affect the respiratory membrane?
Increased tissue fluid in respiratory membrane
increases thickness of respiratory membrane