مقالات صحيه

Hypoxia

What does hypoxia do to your body?

What does hypoxia do to your body?

If blood oxygen levels are too low, your body may not work properly. Blood carries oxygen to the cells throughout your body to keep them healthy. Hypoxemia can cause mild problems such as headaches and shortness of breath. In severe cases, it can interfere with heart and brain function.

Hypoxia

Living cells need oxygen to support the normal functioning of the cell. Hypoxia (Hypoxia) is the process of reduction in the supply of oxygen to the mitochondria (Mitochondrea), or the inability of the mitochondria to absorb oxygen. This situation may lead to poor cell performance.

Hypoxia is the lack of oxygen in one of the inner parts of the cell called the mitochondria, which leads to a decrease in energy production. Hypoxia is the lack of oxygen in the body tissues and not necessarily in the blood, and the lack of oxygen in the blood is called hypoxemia.

For aerobic respiration to take place, oxygen must pass from the atmosphere to the mitochondria. This process is complex and includes: the passage of air from the atmosphere to the lungs, the passage of oxygen from the lungs to the cardiovascular system; The binding of oxygen to hemoglobin in the blood, transporting oxygen to the capillary bed, and finally transferring oxygen through the cell to the mitochondria, which is the area where oxidative phosphorylation occurs, the process of energy production in cells.

Oxidative phosphorylation occurs within the mitochondria and at the end of this process, energy is produced in the form of the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Every defect in one of the stages of the process can lead to hypoxia. If hypoxia is not treated, it can lead to anaerobic metabolic processes resulting in lactic acid and even cell damage and death.

Symptoms 

Symptoms and signs depend on the severity of hypoxia:

is characterized by mild to moderate degrees of cyanosis, which is a bluish color to the skin and mucous membranes caused by an increase in the amount of deoxyhemoglobin that appears in a state of lack of oxygen.

Other symptoms of hypoxia include confusion, confusion, lack of coordination, restlessness, rapid pulse or high blood pressure.

Severe hypoxia is characterized by coma, slow pulse, hypotension, cardiac arrhythmias, and peripheral vasoconstriction.

Causes and risk factors 

The four main mechanisms of hypoxia occurring include:

1. Hypoxemia – hypoxemia. This situation may be the result of lower partial pressure (concentration) of oxygen in the inhaled air, for example , breathing in the highlands, and lung diseases, such as pneumonia (pneumonia) or pulmonary edema (lung edema).

2. lack of hemoglobin ( anemia – anemia).

3. The decrease in the blood supply to the capillaries. For example, poor work of the heart.

4. Inability to exploit oxygen by mitochondria. For example, severe infection or cyanide poisoning.

Hypoxia treatment

Providing the patient with high-concentration oxygen and intensive treatment of the hypoxic cause can save the patient’s life.

that does not respond to this treatment requires the patient to be transferred to the intensive care unit, where there are appropriate treatment methods for this phenomenon.

Treatment of hypoxia includes positive end-expiratory pressure – PEEP , NO , prone position  , and  extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( ECMO ).

It is about connecting the patient to external devices that perform the function of the heart and lungs.

مقالات ذات صلة

زر الذهاب إلى الأعلى