Gas exchange is defined as the process by which oxygen is transported to cells and carbon dioxide is transported from cells (Giddens page 161). Gas exchange in the human body occurs in the lungs and as the primary function of the respiratory system it exchanges two gases, oxygen and carbon dioxide. The process of gas exchange happens as we breath through ventilation, transport and perfusion. As you inhale oxygen, the oxygen travels deep into the lungs until it reaches the alveoli. Here in the alveoli oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuse across the alveolar-capillary membrane. Oxygen is able to enter into the blood while carbon dioxide is leaving the blood as waste to be exhaled from the lungs and out of the body. This oxygenated blood is then …show more content…
A reduction or lack of oxygen and/or buildup of waste leads to demise. For this reason, gas exchange is critical. Gas exchange is compromised when there is impairment of ventilation, altered transport of oxygen, or inadequate perfusion. Impaired ventilation may occur in conditions such as inadequate muscle or nerve function to move air into the lungs, such as cervical spinal cord injury; narrowed airways from bronchoconstriction like in asthma, or from obstruction like in chronic bronchitis; poor gas diffusion in the alveoli, such as pulmonary edema, acute respiratory distress syndrome or pneumonia. Altered transport of oxygen occurs when sufficient red blood cell are not available to carry oxygen, like in anemia. Inadequate perfusion develops when cardiac output is reduced, like in myocardial infarction (Giddens page 164). Asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, aspiration, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), bronchiolitis, croup, tracheal esophageal fistula are the exemplars of gas …show more content…
Emphysema is an enlargement of the alveoli and bronchioles, and destroys the alveolar walls. Symptoms of emphysema can include the use of accessory muscles while breathing and wheezing upon exhalation, thin appearance with weight loss, barrel chest and favoring the tripod position. Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the bronchial tubes causing wheezing and chronic production of excess mucus, producing a cough and making it difficult to breath leading to cyanosis. Also the human body can appear normal or overweight. There may be an enlargement of the heart or cor pulmonale (right sided heart failure). Both emphysema and chronic bronchitis contribute to the destruction of the lung tissue and obstruction of the airway, which causes and impaired gas
Additionally, some of the general diagnostic and pulmonary function tests are distinct in emphysema in comparison to chronic bronchitis. In the case of R.S. the arterial blood gas (ABG) values are the following: pH=7.32, PaCO2= 60mm Hg, PaO2= 50 mm Hg, HCO3- = 80mEq/L. R.S.’s laboratory findings are indicative of chronic bronchitis, where the pH and PaO2 are decreased, whereas PaCO2 and HCO3- are increased, when compare to normal indices. Based on the arterial blood gas evaluation, the physician can deduce that the increased carbon dioxide is due to the airway obstruction displayed by the hypoventilation. Furthermore the excessive mucus production in chronic bronchitis hinders proper oxygenation leading to the hypoxia. On the other hand, in emphysema the arterial blood gas values would include a low to normal PaCO2 and only a slight decrease in PaO2 which tend to occur in the later disease stages.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a condition where there is a low oxygen level in the blood this mostly affects the lungs, people who have sepsis will be affected by ARDS as there breathing rate will decrease. Another reason for a multi-organ dysfunctions is that there is a lack of blood being given to the organs this causes low blood pressure or as it’s called hypotension this mostly affects diabetic people which leads them to having sepsis. Also hypoxia which is a lack of oxygen is another pathological physiological outcome of sepsis as less oxygen is reaching the tissue this is due to the fact that there is less oxygen in the blood. This causes confusion and change in heart and breathing rate which can lead to
I only chose respiratory as an answer. However, the correct answers are respiratory and cardiovascular because of the pulmonary circulatory system. Gas exchange occurs at pulmonary capillary beds.
Mrs. Jones, An elderly woman, presented severely short of breath. She required two rest periods in order to ambulate across the room, but refused the use of a wheel chair. She was alert and oriented, but was unable to speak in full sentences. Her skin was pale and dry. Her vital signs were as follows: Temperature 97.3°F, pulse 83, respirations 27, blood pressure 142/86, O2 saturation was 84% on room air. Auscultation of the lungs revealed crackles in the lower lobes and expiratory wheezing. Use of accessory muscles was present. She was put on 2 liters of oxygen via nasal canal. With the oxygen, her O2 saturation increased to 90%. With exertion her O2 saturation dropped to the 80's. Mrs. Jones began coughing and she produced large amounts of milky sputum.
Chronic bronchitis differs from emphysema in that it affects the bronchioles. There are two forms of bronchitis: chronic and acute. We are going to focus on chronic bronchitis. In this disease, the bronchioles become thick and inflamed. The affected person might cough up thick mucus which can also block the bronchioles.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD is a group of progressive lung diseases that block airflow and make it hard to breathe. Emphysema and chronic bronchitis are the most common types of COPD (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2016, p 557). Primary symptoms include coughing, mucus, chest pain, shortness of breath, and wheezing (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2016, p.557). COPD develops slowly and worsens over time if not treated during early stages. The disease has no cure, but medication and disease management can slow its progress and make one feel better (NIH, 2013)
Haas, D. F. (1990). The Chronic Bronchitis And EMPHYSEMA. New York,NY: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
The main symptom of the disease is shortness of breath, which gets worse as the disease progresses. In severe cases, the patient may develop cor pulmonale, which is an enlargement and strain on the right side of the heart caused by chronic lung disease. Eventually, this may cause right-sided heart failure. Some patients develop emphysema as a complication of black lung disease. Others develop a severe type of black lung disease in which damage continues to the upper part of the lungs even after exposure to the dust has ended called progressive massive fibrosis.
It is when much needed oxygen is obtained by the body in order for respiration to take place and the waste CO2 is taken out of the body. In us mammals, the exchange takes place in the lungs which contain a large number of alveoli. These are sponge-like structures in which the diffusion takes place. They are highly adapted to diffuse the gases as they give a large surface area for exchange of the gases.
Diagnosis include a pulmonary function test, a test which helps measure the lungs ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. This type of test is performed with a special machine called spirometry (Mayo Clinic, 2011). A spirometry determines how well the lungs intake, hold, and utilize the air and can even detect the severity of lung disease and determine whether the disease has decreased airflow or a disruption of airflow has occurred. Another device used is a peak flow monitor (PFM). A device that measures the speed at which an individual can blow air out of lungs (Mayo Clinic, 2011). A doctor can diagnose a patient with symptoms that correspond to emphysema, such as a cough that doesn’t go away, coughing up a large sum of mucus, shor...
The circulatory system and respiratory system share a highly important relationship that is crucial to maintaining the life of an organism. In order for bodily processes to be performed, energy to be created, and homeostasis to be maintained, the exchange of oxygen from the external environment to the intracellular environment is performed by the relationship of these two systems. Starting at the heart, deoxygenated/carbon-dioxide (CO2)-rich blood is moved in through the superior and inferior vena cava into the right atrium, then into the right ventricle when the heart is relaxed. As the heart contracts, the deoxygenated blood is pumped through the pulmonary arteries to capillaries in the lungs. As the organism breathes and intakes oxygenated air, oxygen is exchanged with CO2 in the blood at the capillaries. As the organism breathes out, it expels the CO2 into the external environment. For the blood in the capillaries, it is then moved into pulmonary veins and make
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is preventable disease that has a detrimental effects on both the airway and lung parenchyma (Nazir & Erbland, 2009). COPD categorises emphysema and chronic bronchitis, both of which are characterised by a reduced maximum expiratory flow and slow but forced emptying of the lungs (Jeffery 1998). The disease has the one of the highest number of fatalities in the developed world due to the ever increasing amount of tobacco smokers and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014). Signs and symptoms that indicate the presence of the disease include a productive cough, wheezing, dyspnoea and predisposing risk factors (Edelman et al., 1992). The diagnosis of COPD is predominantly based on the results of a lung function assessment (Larsson, 2007). Chronic bronchitis is differentiated from emphysema by it's presentation of a productive cough present for a minimum of three months in two consecutive years that cannot be attributed to other pulmonary or cardiac causes (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014) (Viegi et al., 2007). Whereas emphysema is defined pathologically as as the irreversible destruction without obvious fibrosis of the lung alveoli (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014) (Veigi et al., 2007).It is common for emphysema and chronic bronchitis to be diagnosed concurrently owing to the similarities between the diseases (Marx, Hockberger & Walls, 2014).
Parker, Steve. "Chronic Pulmonary Diseases." The Human Body Book. New ed. New York: DK Pub., 2007.
The clinical manifestation one may see in patients with chronic bronchitis are chronic cough, weight loss, excessive sputum, and dyspnea. Chronic cough is from the body trying to expel the excessive mucus build up to return breathing back to normal. Dyspnea is from the thickening of the bronchial walls causing constriction, thereby altering the breathing pattern. This causes the body to use other surrounding muscles to help with breathing which can be exhausting. These patients ca...
NiSource is one of the biggest natural gas distribution companies in the USA. Company is not responsible for the production of natural gas, but rather purchases fossil fuel at the source and transmits supply thru its pipelines to industries and local costumers. Natural gas can be transported to distribution facilities in two ways: underground gas pipelines or shipped by the sea in LNG tankers. In nature during the extraction, natural gas exists as a gas, which needs to be captured by special pipeline system designed for gathering processes. Captured gas contains water and other impurities that have to be removed in production well. In order to be transported, it needs to be cooled and transformed into liquid, which increases transportation efficiency to processing units and improves transportation cost ratio. Regasification is the process when "wet", liquid natural gas is processed and changed to pipeline quality natural gas. Natural gas needs to be turned back to gas in order to be useful for residential and commercial customers. This process needs to be monitored and measured for quality and content of natural gas due to the risk of pipeline rupture and safety. "Natural gas entering the system that is not within certain specific gravities, pressures, Btu content range, or water content level will cause operational problems, pipeline deterioration, or even cause pipeline rupture."1 Natural gas transported to distributors is called "dry" gas due to the physical state.