Definition
Respiratory acidosis is a condition characterized by an increase in the acidity of the blood, due to the excess of carbon dioxide dissolved in it. As a result, the plasma pH decreases (normally it is maintained at 7.4), the PaCO 2 increases (hypercapnia) and the ratio between bicarbonate and carbon dioxide decreases. In order for this ratio (hence the pH) to return to normal, the kidneys increase the excretion of hydrogen ions (H +) and the reabsorption of bicarbonate ions (HCO3-). When this compensation mechanism also becomes insufficient, the respiratory acidosis appears.
The acute form causes headache, mental confusion and drowsiness. A slow-evolving chronic respiratory acidosis (as can happen, for example, in COPD), may be well tolerated, but patients may also experience sleep disturbances, tremors, myoclonic spasms, dyspnea, tachycardia, cyanosis and loss of memory.
Respiratory acidosis is due to less than necessary ventilation. In fact, it occurs in the case of cardiopulmonary diseases that lead to a severe reduction in the alveolar surface responsible for gas exchange (eg chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, severe pneumonia, pulmonary edema, asthma, diffuse fibrosis and pneumothorax) and in the case of airway obstructions superior.
Furthermore, hypoventilation can be caused by depression of the respiratory centers of the brain stem (caused by drugs and neurological diseases) or by respiratory muscle disorders (eg myasthenia gravis, botulism, Guillain-Barré syndrome and chest trauma). ).
Possible Causes * of Respiratory Acidosis
- Night apnea
- Asthma
- Botulism
- COPD
- Bronchiectasis
- Bronchiolitis
- Pulmonary edema
- Pulmonary embolism
- Emphysema
- Cystic fibrosis
- Pulmonary fibrosis
- Heart failure
- Respiratory failure
- Malignant hyperthermia
- Hypothyroidism
- Myasthenia gravis
- Pneumonia
- Heart failure
- Sepsis
- Septic shock
- Pickwick syndrome
