photo.jpg

# Altered Oxygenation ## Respiratory Tract Oxygen is transported into the cells where it is exchanged in the capillaries for carbon dioxide. The process by which gas exchange between outside air and the blood and then between the blood and cells takes place is the respiration cycle. Physical facto...

# Altered Oxygenation ## Respiratory Tract Oxygen is transported into the cells where it is exchanged in the capillaries for carbon dioxide. The process by which gas exchange between outside air and the blood and then between the blood and cells takes place is the respiration cycle. Physical factors that govern air flow include: - Air pressure variances: air flows from areas of greater pressure to areas of lower pressure. - Airway resistance: the relationship between the size of the airway and the amount of airflow. - Compliance: the volume-pressure relationship in the lungs and thorax that allows the lungs and thorax to stretch and distend (comply) under pressure. Compliance increases with loss of elasticity and distended thorax (emphysema) and decreases with increased "stiffness" or resistance in the lungs and thorax (pneumothorax, hemothorax, ARDS, fibrosis, and atelectasis). ## Metabolic vs. Respiratory Acidosis Metabolic acidosis is an increase in fixed acid and inability to excrete acid or loss of base, with compensatory increase of CO2 excretion by lungs. Laboratory findings include: - Decreased serum pH and PCO2 normal if uncompensated and decreased if compensated - Decreased HCОЗ - Urine pH 6 if compensated