| Hypoxemia | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Hypoxaemia |
 | |
| Blood with higher oxygen content appears bright red | |
| Specialty | Pulmonology |
Hypoxemia is an abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood. [1] [2] More specifically, it is oxygen deficiency in arterial blood. [3] Hypoxemia has many causes, and often causes hypoxia as the blood is not supplying enough oxygen to the tissues of the body.
Hypoxemia refers to the low level of oxygen in blood, and the more general term hypoxia is an abnormally low oxygen content in any tissue or organ, or the body as a whole. [2] Hypoxemia can cause hypoxia (hypoxemic hypoxia), but hypoxia can also occur via other mechanisms, such as anemia. [4]
Hypoxemia is usually defined in terms of reduced partial pressure of oxygen (mm Hg) in arterial blood, but also in terms of reduced content of oxygen (ml oxygen per dl blood) or percentage saturation of hemoglobin (the oxygen-binding protein within red blood cells) with oxygen, which is either found singly or in combination. [2] [5]
While there is general agreement that an arterial blood gas measurement which shows that the partial pressure of oxygen is lower than normal constitutes hypoxemia, [5] [4] [6] there is less agreement concerning whether the oxygen content of blood is relevant in determining hypoxemia. This definition would include oxygen carried by hemoglobin. The oxygen content of blood is thus sometimes viewed as a measure of tissue delivery rather than hypoxemia. [6]
Just as extreme hypoxia can be called anoxia, extreme hypoxemia can be called anoxemia.
In an acute context, hypoxemia can cause symptoms such as those in respiratory distress. These include breathlessness, an increased rate of breathing, use of the chest and abdominal muscles to breathe, and lip pursing. [7] : 642
Chronic hypoxemia may be compensated or uncompensated. The compensation may cause symptoms to be overlooked initially, however, further disease or a stress such as any increase in oxygen demand may finally unmask the existing hypoxemia. In a compensated state, blood vessels supplying less-ventilated areas of the lung may selectively contract, to redirect the blood to areas of the lungs which are better ventilated. However, in a chronic context, and if the lungs are not well ventilated generally, this mechanism can result in pulmonary hypertension, overloading the right ventricle of the heart and causing cor pulmonale and right sided heart failure. Polycythemia can also occur. [7] In children, chronic hypoxemia may manifest as delayed growth, neurological development and motor development and decreased sleep quality with frequent sleep arousals. [8]
Other symptoms of hypoxemia may include cyanosis, digital clubbing, and symptoms that may relate to the cause of the hypoxemia, including cough and hemoptysis. [7] : 642
Serious hypoxemia typically occurs when the partial pressure of oxygen in blood is less than 60 mmHg (8.0 kPa), the beginning of the steep portion of the oxygen–hemoglobin dissociation curve, where a small decrease in the partial pressure of oxygen results in a large decrease in the oxygen content of the blood. [4] [9] Severe hypoxia can lead to respiratory failure [7]
Hypoxemia refers to insufficient oxygen in the blood. Thus any cause that influences the rate or volume of air entering the lungs (ventilation) or any cause that influences the transfer of air from the lungs to the blood may cause hypoxemia. As well as these respiratory causes, cardiovascular causes such as shunts may also result in hypoxemia.
Hypoxemia is caused by five categories of etiologies: hypoventilation, ventilation/perfusion mismatch, right-to-left shunt, diffusion impairment, and low PO2. Low PO2 and hypoventilation are associated with a normal alveolar–arterial gradient (A-a gradient) whereas the other categories are associated with an increased A-a gradient. [10] : 229
If the alveolar ventilation is low, there will not be enough oxygen delivered to the alveoli for the body's use. This can cause hypoxemia even if the lungs are normal, as the cause is in the brainstem's control of ventilation or in the body's inability to breathe effectively.
Respiration is controlled by centers in the medulla, which influence the rate of breathing and the depth of each breath. This is influenced by the blood level of carbon dioxide, as determined by central and peripheral chemoreceptors located in the central nervous system and carotid and aortic bodies, respectively. Hypoxia occurs when the breathing center doesn't function correctly or when the signal is not appropriate:
A variety of conditions that physically limit airflow can lead to hypoxemia.
In conditions where the proportion of oxygen in the air is low, or when the partial pressure of oxygen has decreased, less oxygen is present in the alveoli of the lungs. The alveolar oxygen is transferred to hemoglobin, a carrier protein inside red blood cells, with an efficiency that decreases with the partial pressure of oxygen in the air.
This refers to a disruption in the ventilation/perfusion equilibrium. Oxygen entering the lungs typically diffuses across the alveolar-capillary membrane into blood. However this equilibration does not occur when the alveolus is insufficiently ventilated, and as a consequence the blood exiting that alveolus is relatively hypoxemic. When such blood is added to blood from well ventilated alveoli, the mix has a lower oxygen partial pressure than the alveolar air, and so the A-a difference develops. Examples of states that can cause a ventilation-perfusion mismatch include:
Shunting refers to blood that bypasses the pulmonary circulation, meaning that the blood does not receive oxygen from the alveoli. In general, a shunt may be within the heart or lungs, and cannot be corrected by administering oxygen alone. Shunting may occur in normal states:
Shunting may also occur in disease states:
Exercise-induced arterial hypoxemia occurs during exercise when a trained individual exhibits an arterial oxygen saturation below 93%. It occurs in fit, healthy individuals of varying ages and genders. [25] Adaptations due to training include an increased cardiac output from cardiac hypertrophy, improved venous return, and metabolic vasodilation of muscles, and an increased VO2 max. There must be a corresponding increase in VCO2 thus a necessity to clear the carbon dioxide to prevent a metabolic acidosis. Hypoxemia occurs in these individuals due to increased pulmonary blood flow causing:
Key to understanding whether the lung is involved in a particular case of hypoxemia is the difference between the alveolar and the arterial oxygen levels; this A-a difference is often called the A-a gradient and is normally small. The arterial oxygen partial pressure is obtained directly from an arterial blood gas determination. The oxygen contained in the alveolar air can be calculated because it will be directly proportional to its fractional composition in air. Since the airways humidify (and so dilute) the inhaled air, the barometric pressure of the atmosphere is reduced by the vapor pressure of water.
The term hypoxemia was originally used to describe low blood oxygen occurring at high altitudes and was defined generally as defective oxygenation of the blood. [26]
In modern times there are a lot of tools to detects hypoxemia including smartwatches. In 2022 a research has shown smartwatches can detect short-time hypoxemia as well as standard medical devices. [27] [28]
Hypoxia is a condition in which the body or a region of the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply at the tissue level. Hypoxia may be classified as either generalized, affecting the whole body, or local, affecting a region of the body. Although hypoxia is often a pathological condition, variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise.
The respiratory system is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies greatly, depending on the size of the organism, the environment in which it lives and its evolutionary history. In land animals, the respiratory surface is internalized as linings of the lungs. Gas exchange in the lungs occurs in millions of small air sacs; in mammals and reptiles, these are called alveoli, and in birds, they are known as atria. These microscopic air sacs have a very rich blood supply, thus bringing the air into close contact with the blood. These air sacs communicate with the external environment via a system of airways, or hollow tubes, of which the largest is the trachea, which branches in the middle of the chest into the two main bronchi. These enter the lungs where they branch into progressively narrower secondary and tertiary bronchi that branch into numerous smaller tubes, the bronchioles. In birds, the bronchioles are termed parabronchi. It is the bronchioles, or parabronchi that generally open into the microscopic alveoli in mammals and atria in birds. Air has to be pumped from the environment into the alveoli or atria by the process of breathing which involves the muscles of respiration.
Respiratory failure results from inadequate gas exchange by the respiratory system, meaning that the arterial oxygen, carbon dioxide, or both cannot be kept at normal levels. A drop in the oxygen carried in the blood is known as hypoxemia; a rise in arterial carbon dioxide levels is called hypercapnia. Respiratory failure is classified as either Type 1 or Type 2, based on whether there is a high carbon dioxide level, and can be acute or chronic. In clinical trials, the definition of respiratory failure usually includes increased respiratory rate, abnormal blood gases, and evidence of increased work of breathing. Respiratory failure causes an altered mental status due to ischemia in the brain.
Diffusing capacity of the lung (DL) measures the transfer of gas from air in the lung, to the red blood cells in lung blood vessels. It is part of a comprehensive series of pulmonary function tests to determine the overall ability of the lung to transport gas into and out of the blood. DL, especially DLCO, is reduced in certain diseases of the lung and heart. DLCO measurement has been standardized according to a position paper by a task force of the European Respiratory and American Thoracic Societies.
Dead space is the volume of air that is inhaled that does not take part in the gas exchange, because it either remains in the conducting airways or reaches alveoli that are not perfused or poorly perfused. It means that not all the air in each breath is available for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. Mammals breathe in and out of their lungs, wasting that part of the inhalation which remains in the conducting airways where no gas exchange can occur.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin coloration (cyanosis). For those who survive, a decreased quality of life is common.
In physiology, respiration is the movement of oxygen from the outside environment to the cells within tissues, and the removal of carbon dioxide in the opposite direction that's to the environment.
Generalized hypoxia is a medical condition in which the tissues of the body are deprived of the necessary levels of oxygen due to an insufficient supply of oxygen, which may be due to the composition or pressure of the breathing gas, decreased lung ventilation, or respiratory disease, any of which may cause a lower than normal oxygen content in the arterial blood, and consequently a reduced supply of oxygen to all tissues perfused by the arterial blood. This usage is in contradistinction to localized hypoxia, in which only an associated group of tissues, usually with a common blood supply, are affected, usually due to an insufficient or reduced blood supply to those tissues. Generalized hypoxia is also used as a synonym for hypoxic hypoxia This is not to be confused with hypoxemia, which refers to low levels of oxygen in the blood, although the two conditions often occur simultaneously, since a decrease in blood oxygen typically corresponds to a decrease in oxygen in the surrounding tissue. However, hypoxia may be present without hypoxemia, and vice versa, as in the case of infarction. Several other classes of medical hypoxia exist.
Hyperoxia occurs when cells, tissues and organs are exposed to an excess supply of oxygen (O2) or higher than normal partial pressure of oxygen.
In medicine, hepatopulmonary syndrome is a syndrome of shortness of breath and hypoxemia caused by vasodilation in the lungs of patients with liver disease. Dyspnea and hypoxemia are worse in the upright position.
In respiratory physiology, the ventilation/perfusion ratio is a ratio used to assess the efficiency and adequacy of the ventilation-perfusion coupling and thus the matching of two variables:
A pulmonary shunt is the passage of deoxygenated blood from the right side of the heart to the left without participation in gas exchange in the pulmonary capillaries. It is a pathological condition that results when the alveoli of parts of the lungs are perfused with blood as normal, but ventilation fails to supply the perfused region. In other words, the ventilation/perfusion ratio of those areas is zero.
The factors that determine the values for alveolar pO2 and pCO2 are:
The multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET) is a medical technique used mainly in pulmonology that involves measuring the concentrations of various infused, inert gases in mixed venous blood, arterial blood, and expired gas of a subject. The technique quantifies true shunt, physiological dead space ventilation, ventilation versus blood flow ratios, and diffusion limitation.
The Alveolar–arterial gradient, is a measure of the difference between the alveolar concentration (A) of oxygen and the arterial (a) concentration of oxygen. It is a useful parameter for narrowing the differential diagnosis of hypoxemia.
A pulmonary contusion, also known as lung contusion, is a bruise of the lung, caused by chest trauma. As a result of damage to capillaries, blood and other fluids accumulate in the lung tissue. The excess fluid interferes with gas exchange, potentially leading to inadequate oxygen levels (hypoxia). Unlike pulmonary laceration, another type of lung injury, pulmonary contusion does not involve a cut or tear of the lung tissue.
Breathing is the process of moving air into and from the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly to flush out carbon dioxide and bring in oxygen.
In the respiratory system, ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) mismatch refers to the pathological discrepancy between ventilation (V) and perfusion (Q) resulting in an abnormal ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) ratio. Ventilation is a measure of the amount of inhaled air that reaches the alveoli, while perfusion is a measure of the amount of deoxygenated blood that reaches the alveoli through the capillary beds. Under normal conditions, ventilation-perfusion coupling keeps ventilation (V) at approximately 4 L/min and normal perfusion (Q) at approximately 5 L/min. Thus, at rest, a normal V/Q ratio is 0.8. Any deviation from this value is considered a V/Q mismatch. Maintenance of the V/Q ratio is crucial for preservation of effective pulmonary gas exchange and maintenance of oxygenation levels. A mismatch can contribute to hypoxemia and often signifies the presence or worsening of an underlying pulmonary condition.
The pathophysiology of acute respiratory distress syndrome involves fluid accumulation in the lungs not explained by heart failure. It is typically provoked by an acute injury to the lungs that results in flooding of the lungs' microscopic air sacs responsible for the exchange of gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide with capillaries in the lungs. Additional common findings in ARDS include partial collapse of the lungs (atelectasis) and low levels of oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia). The clinical syndrome is associated with pathological findings including pneumonia, eosinophilic pneumonia, cryptogenic organizing pneumonia, acute fibrinous organizing pneumonia, and diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). Of these, the pathology most commonly associated with ARDS is DAD, which is characterized by a diffuse inflammation of lung tissue. The triggering insult to the tissue usually results in an initial release of chemical signals and other inflammatory mediators secreted by local epithelial and endothelial cells.
Ventilation-perfusion coupling is the relationship between ventilation and perfusion processes, which take place in the respiratory system and the cardiovascular system. Ventilation is the movement of gas during breathing, and perfusion is the process of pulmonary blood circulation, which delivers oxygen to body tissues. Anatomically, the lung structure, alveolar organization, and alveolar capillaries contribute to the physiological mechanism of ventilation and perfusion. Ventilation-perfusion coupling maintains a constant ventilation/perfusion ratio near 0.8 on average, while the regional variation exists within the lungs due to gravity. When the ratio gets above or below 0.8, it is considered abnormal ventilation-perfusion coupling, also known as a ventilation–perfusion mismatch. Lung diseases, cardiac shunts, and smoking can cause a ventilation-perfusion mismatch that results in significant symptoms and diseases, which can be treated through treatments like bronchodilators and oxygen therapy.
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