Respiratory Science Flashcards
Why is the nose so vascular (blood around the nose)?
Because your blood is warm and it warms up the air getting breathed in.
What is the condition when the pleural membrane gets inflamed in the lungs?
Pleuresy
If you get a foreign object down the wrong airway what is it called?
Aspiration
Where are the vocal chords?
In the larynx
What cells secrete mucous?
Goblet cells
What is the differences between bronchioles and bronchus?
Bronchioles have no cartilage; just a thick smooth wall
What delivers blood to the alveoli?
A venuele! The arteriole takes the blood away to go back into the systemic system
What cells make surfactant?
Type II cell
How does surfactant work?
By reducing surface tension, it keeps the alveoli open.
-rhino means:
Nose
Pathophysiology of Rhinitis?
Reduced cilia motility = impaired particle movement
this causes increased secretion of mucus, swelling, oedema, airway constriction = increased infection risk.
What is a sinus?
A hole in a bony cavity
What does vasodilation cause?
Hyperaemia (increased blood supply)
What is a post-nasal drip?
occurs when excessive mucus is produced by the nasal mucosa. The excess mucus accumulates in the throat or back of the nose.
What is the medical management of rhinitus?
Corticosteriods (as an anti-inflammatory)
Antihistamines (stops the histamine release, stopping inflammtion)
Antibiotics (if bacterial)
What is the medical management of sinusitis?
- Pain killers
- steam (to reduce viscosity of mucus)
- Mucolytics
- nasal sprays (this causes vasoconstriction, reduces some heat and redness)
- Corticosteriods
- irrigation
- antibiotics (if bacterial)
What is influenza?
Viral infection causes by various strands
T cells make what cell to eat viruses?
Lymphocytes
Describe Type A (H1N1) influenza
Seasonal flu
What is inter-species mutations?
Avian flu/swine flu/ mutation of H1N1
What can cause an epidemic spread of flu?
A rapid mutation of viruses
How does the flu work?
Virus invades respiratory epithelium and starts the inflammation response
What is the clinical presentation of flu?
Cough Sore throat Headaches Myalgia (pain in muscles) Fever (lasts 3-5 days)
Parenchyma =
Tissues in the lungs
What kind of condition is asthma?
Obstructive, due to mucous and inflammation
Difference between ventilation and respiration?
Ventilation is the movement of air into and out of the lungs
Respiration is the bigger term; refers to everything from breathing right down to cellular respiration
What does compliance mean?
the ease with which the lungs expand in response to pressures changes in the chest
What does elasticity mean?
The rebound of the lungs after having been stretched by inhalation, or rather, the ease with which the lung rebounds
What is physiological dead space?
Physiologic dead space includes all the non-respiratory parts of the bronchial tree, but also factors in alveoli which are well-ventilated but poorly perfused and are therefore less efficient at exchanging gas with the blood.
What does V and Q stand for?
V = the amount of air that reaches the alveoli Q = the amount of blood that reaches the alveoli
Hypoxic hypoxia =
low pO2
Stagnant hypoxia=
low perfusion
Anaemic hypoxia=
low Hb
Histotoxic hypoxia=
low extraction
What does FEV1 mean?
Forced expired volume in 1 second
How much can you breathe out in 1 sec?
70-80% of breath
so someone with asthma this will be much lower
FVC =
Forced vital capacity, is the amount of air which can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs after taking the deepest breath possible.
What is a thoracocentesis?
When the lung is punctured with a needle and a fluid sample taken (aspirated) (usually from pleural area)
What is pneumonia?
acute inflammation and consolidation of the entire or part of the lung usually caused by an infectious agent
What is lung consolidation?
A pulmonary consolidation is a region of (normally compressible) lung tissue that has filled with liquid, a condition marked by induration (swelling or hardening of normally soft tissue) of a normally aerated lung
What happens in asthma?
1) Bronchoconstriction and spasm
2) Oedema and increased mucus
3) Prolonged expiration (difficult to expire air due to obstruction) decreased forced expired volume in 1 second (FEV1.0)
(Reduced peak expiratory flow rate (litres/second) if decrease below 50% = emergency )
4) Air not expired gets trapped in lung residual volume increased
(Reduced respiratory vital capacity)
What are the S & S of pneumonia?
Cough Fever Shaking chills. Shortness of breath Chest pain
What is the pathophysiology of pneumonia?
1) increased secretions
2) loss of surfactant
3) decreased compliance
4) decreased gas exchange
5) airway narrowing
Where does the virus attack in viral pneumonia?
The bronchiolar epithelium
Where does the bacteria attack in bacterial pneumonia?
Alveolar and bronchioles
What things can be done to investigate suspected pneumonia?
white cell count chest X-ray sputum analysis and culture blood culture lung function blood gases bronchoscopy lung biopsy CT or MRI
What do we use to treat pneumonia?
Anti-inflammatories Antimicrobials - antibiotics, antifungal Bronchodilators Mucolytics Oxygen Support therapy
What doe anticholinergic drugs do?
Blocks PNS from constricting airways
What do Methylxanthines do?
Cause bronchodilation
What are expectorants?
a medicine which promotes the secretion of sputum by the air passages, used to treat coughs.
What does coedine do for coughing?
When codeine is used to reduce coughing, it works by decreasing the activity in the part of the brain that causes coughing
What does ARDS stand for?
Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
What is ARDS?
A form of pulmonary oedema that quickly leads to acute respiratory failure, acute lung inflammation of the epithelium as well as capillary injury.
What is the pathophysiology of ARDS?
Massive pulmonary inflammation of alveolar capillary membrane (epithelial and endothelial damage)
Pulmonary oedema – decreased lung compliance
Hypoxaemia - decreased pulmonary ventilation
Pulmonary vasoconstriction – V/Q mismatch
What are the S & S of ARDS?
- Dyspnoea, shallow breathing, tachypnoea (resp alkalosis, followed by resp acidosis when gas exchange becomes impaired)
- Crackles, phlegm, bilateral infiltration (auscultation and xray)
- Hypoxaemia, cyanosis, metab acidosis,
- Pulmonary oedema
- Atelectasis, decreased compliance
- Hypotension, decreased cardiac output
What is atelectasis?
A partially collapsed lung
How can you treat ARDS?
Mechanical breathing; control of inflammation/infection; reduction of oedema Antibiotics Steroids Ventilation – 100% O2, PEEP Support cardiac function Treat multiple organ failure
What is Pneumothorax?
the presence of air or gas in the cavity between the lungs and the chest wall, causing collapse of the lung.(Related to trauma)
What does PEEP stand for?
Positive End Expiratory Pressure
What is Bronchiolitis?
A paediatric respiratory condition. Infection leads to inflammation of the ciliated cells of the BRONCHIOLES leading to cell death.
This causes bronchospasam, productive cough, atelectasis and lung collapse = hypoxaemia and hypoxia.
What is the Mediastinum?
is the central compartment of the thoracic cavity surrounded by loose connective tissue, as an undelineated region that contains a group of structures within the thorax. It keeps one lung separated from the other; so if one lung collapses, you can still breath with the other lung.
What is pertussis?
AKA Whopping Cough. a contagious bacterial disease chiefly affecting children, characterized by convulsive coughs followed by a whoop.
What is the difference between Bronchiolitis and Bronchitus?
Bronchiolitis = inflammation of bronchioles Bronchitus = inflammation of bronchi.
What is a pulmonary shunt?
A pulmonary shunt is a physiological condition which results when the alveoli of the lungs are perfused with blood as normal, but ventilation (the supply of air) fails to supply the perfused region. In other words, the ventilation/perfusion ratio (the ratio of air reaching the alveoli to blood perfusing them) is zero.
