Unit 3 Pathophysiology - Chapter 36 Alterations of Pulmonary fx Flashcards
Dyspnea
- breathlessness
- increased respiratory effort
- often associated with respiratory and cardiac diseases
Orthopnea
- recumbent position - dyspnea when lying down (l/t sitting position when individual leans slightly forward with arms propped in front)
- associated with heart failure
- SOB
Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea
- occurs after sleeping 1-2 hrs at night requiring person to sit or stand for relief
Coughing
protective reflex that expels secretions and irritants from lower airways; mediated by vagus nerve
Abnormal sputum
- altered amount, consistency, color, and odor
Hemopytsis
- blood mucus d/t bronchitis, TB, abscess, neoplasms (abnormal mass), or other ways that damage vessels
Abnormal breathing patterns
- Kussmaul (form of hyperventilation, rapid, deep breahing at a consistent pace)
- obstructed breathing (prolonged expiration d/t narrowed airways and increased airway resistance)
- restricted breathing (difficulty breathing, breathlessness, or feeling suffocation)
- gasping (agonal respiration)
- Cheyne-Stokes respirations (origin - heart failure or stroke, too much carbon dioxide in body, rhythm fluctuates between fast & slow breathing, or causing breathing to stop)
- sighing (uncomfortable awareness of feeling unable to take a deep, satisfying breath, often while sighing or yawning)
Hypoventilation
Decreased alveolar ventilation
caused by
* airway obstruction
* chest wall restriction
* altered neurologic control of breathing
* L/t increased PaCO2
Hyperventilation
Increased alveolar ventilation
caused by
* anxiety
* head injury
* severe hypoxemia
* L/t decreased PaCO2
Cyanosis
Blue discoloration
caused by
* desaturation of hemoglobin
* polcythemia (blood disorder w/ too many RBC => cause blood to increase in volume and thicken)
* peripheral vasoconstriction
Clubbing
- d/t disease that mess w/ normal pulmonary circulation or cause chronic hypoxemia
Chest pain in pulmonary sense
- inflamed pleurae, trachea, bronchi, or respiratory muscles
Hypoxemia
caused by
* decreased o2 content in inspired gas
* hypoventilation
* diffusion abnormaility
* ventilation-perfusion mismatch
* shunting
Acute respiratory failure
caused by inadequate gas exchange or ventilation
* PaO2 <50 mmHg
* or PaCO2 >50 mmHg and pH >7.25
Low oxygen levels in your blood can cause:
- Difficulty with routine activities such as dressing, taking a shower, and climbing stairs, due to extreme tiredness
- Shortness of breath or feeling like you cannot get enough air (called air hunger)
- Drowsiness
- A bluish color on your fingers, toes, and lips
High carbon dioxide levels in your blood can cause:
- Blurred vision
- Confusion
- Headaches
- Rapid breathing
It is often caused by a disease or injury that affects your breathing, such as pneumonia, opioid overdose, stroke, or a lung or spinal cord injury
While slow development => chronic respiratory failure
What happens if chest wall is deformed, traumatized, immobilized, or become heavy with fat?
- work of breathing increased
- ventilation compromised => decrease in tidal volume d/t compression of lungs or impaired chest wall muscle function
Flail chest
chest in which sections of broken ribs are isolated from, and interfering with, normal chest movements. That means the chest cannot expand properly and cannot properly draw air into the lungs. This is why stabilization after blunt trauma is important.
Pneumothorax
accumulation of air in pleural space d/t spontaneous rupture of weakened area of pleura or 2ndary to pleural damage caused by disease, trauma, or mechanical ventilation
there’s a defect in the pleura that allows air to leak into the pleural space, causing the partial or total collapse of the affected lung. The air trapped does not, however, continue accumulating, and some of the air is also able to escape during expiration. As a result, the intrapleural pressure does not keep increasing, which allows the affected lung to partially expand and fill with oxygen during inspiration.
Open pneumothorax
- air builds up in pleural cavity caused by a hole in chest
- puts pressure on lung can l/t lung collapse
- pleual cavity is equal to atmospheric pressure (mainly lung affected)
causes:
* trauma (blunt or penetrating)
* Iatrogenic pneumothorax (medical examination or tx) - transtracheal aspiration (inserting needle into lung tissue), lung biopsy (portion of tissue removed), or tube thoracostomy (chest tube into plueral space or mediastinum to remove air, excess, fluid, blood)
treatment:
* three-way dressing
* chest tube
* surgical repair
sx:
* sudden chest pain
* SOB
* rapid and shallow breathing
* elevated HR
* hypoxia
diagnosis
* hyperresonant (high pitched?) sounds
* absence of breath sounds in individual’s back indicate air or fluid in pleural space
closed pneumothorax
- air that enters pleural cavity from lungs themselves
- defect of or damage to pulmonary parechyma (portions of lungs involved in gas exchange, including alveoli, alveolar ducts, and respiratory bronchioles)
- other causes can potentially be COPD, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, or pneumonia
Cystic fibrosis affects the cells that produce mucus, sweat, and digestive juices. It causes these fluids to become thick and sticky. They then plug up tubes, ducts, and passageways.
sx
* sudden chest pain
* SOB
* rapid and shallow breathing
* elevated HR
* hypoxia
can be a spontaneous pneumothorax (spontaneous meaning without UNDERLYING lung disease) or… secondary (w/ underlying lung disease)
pleural cavity pressure is lesser than atomspheric pressure (mainly lung affected)
tension pneumothorax
layering order 1) parietal pleura 2) pleural space 3) visceral pleura
- air enters pleural space
- in TENSION - air cannot leave (cause pleural cavity pressure to be greater than atmospheric pressure)
- pressure on lung, trachea, heart, and other structures
- pleural injury
causes:
* spontaneous (primary - w/o underlying lung disease)
* secondary (simple - w/ underlying disease)
* traumatic (any kind - chest injury or mechanical ventilation)
sx:
* SOB
* acute chest pain
* low blood pressure
* low blood O2
* Increasec HR
tx: needle decompression