Respiratory Failure Health Article

Definition

Respiratory failure is nearly any condition that affects breathing function or the lungs themselves and can result in failure of the lungs to function properly. The main tasks of the lungs and chest are to get oxygen from the air that is inhaled into the bloodstream, and, at the same to time, to eliminate carbon dioxide (C0₂) from the blood through air that is breathed out. In respiratory failure, the level of oxygen in the blood becomes dangerously low, and/or the level of C0₂ becomes dangerously high. There are two ways in which this can happen. Either the process by which oxygen and C0₂ are exchanged between the blood and the air spaces of the lungs (a process called "gas exchange") breaks down, or the movement of air in and out of the lungs (ventilation) does not take place properly.

Description

Respiratory failure often is divided into two main types. One of them, called hypoxemic respiratory failure, occurs when something interferes with normal gas exchange. Too little oxygen gets into the blood (hypoxemia), and all organs and tissues in the body suffer as a result. One common type of hypoxemic failure, occurring in both adults and prematurely born infants, is respiratory distress syndrome, a condition in which fluid or tissue changes prevent oxygen from passing out of the air sacs of the lungs into the circulating blood. Hypoxemia also may result from spending time at high altitudes (where there is less oxygen in the air); various forms of lung disease that separate oxygen from blood in the lungs; severe anemia ("low blood"); and blood vessel disorders that shunt blood away from the lungs, thus precluding the lungs from picking up oxygen.

The other main type of respiratory failure is ventilatory failure, occurring when, for any reason, breathing is not strong enough to rid the body of C0₂. Then CO₂ builds up in the blood (hypercapnia). Ventilatory failure can result when the respiratory center in the brainstem fails to drive breathing; when muscle disease keeps the chest wall from expanding when breathing in; or when a patient has chronic obstructive lung disease that makes it very difficult to exhale air with its C0₂. Many of the specific diseases and conditions that cause respiratory failure cause both too little oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia) and abnormal ventilation.