Healthytalk8 What is Hypoxia?
Contents
Hypoxia is a state where oxygen is not available in a sufficient amount in the tissue.
This can happen due to low blood supply or low oxygen content in the blood called hypoxemia.
When you breathe, oxygen goes into your lungs, where it travels through your airways into small sacs called alveoli.
From there, it gets picked by your blood in small vessels that travel close to the alveoli (capillaries).
Now, finally, it travels through your blood out to other tissues.
Hypoxia can vary in intensity from mild to severe and can present in acute, chronic, or acute chronic forms (1).
Some tissue can tolerate some forms of hypoxia (low oxygen levels) for a longer duration, while some other leads to severely damaged (2) (3)
Hypoxia in which there is a complete loss of oxygen supply is called anoxia (4).
Types of hypoxia
Hypoxia has 5 main types which include:
Hypoxic hypoxia – In this, there is a lack of oxygen in the arterial blood, this can affects the whole body and is one of the serious forms of hypoxia.
Anemic hypoxia – In this, arterial blood contains oxygen at its normal tension, but the shortage of functioning hemoglobin occurs.
Stagnant hypoxia – This is due to a decrease in the rate of blood circulation level, it can affect the entire body.
However, this slow or decreased circulation is also associated with the great quality of carbon dioxide in the tissue.
Histotoxic hypoxia – Refers to – tissue cells that are poisoned and are unable to accept oxygen from the capillaries.
In this type of hypoxia, the cells are not able to utilize oxygen.
Fulminating hypoxia – It is caused by the inhalation of certain types of gases such as nitrogen, methane, or helium.
There are some people who are at more risk of hypoxia including:
- lung and heart disease both are more at risk of it
- COPD
- asthma
Reasons
Hypoxia is most often caused by a medical condition that affects blood flow or breathing. this include:
- Anemia
- Lungs disease such as – Bronchitis, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (CPOD), pneumonia, and pulmonary edema
- Asthma
- during a heart attack, our airways narrow, making it hard to get air into our lungs
- acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)
- peripheral vascular disease (PVD)
- flare
- pulmonary embolus (PE)
- altitude
- Pain medication and other drugs
- Cyanide poisoning
- premature birth
Doctors report cases of silent hypoxia in COVID-19 patients who did not experience shortness of breath or coughing until their oxygen levels had fallen to such a degree that the patients risked (ARDS) and organ failure.
Premature birth also is a reason for hypoxia, because the lungs develop late in pregnancy or are underdeveloped lungs (5).
NOTE: The lungs are one of the last organs to mature in the womb this is why premature babies spend the first days or weeks lives in ventilators.
To improve lung function until the baby is able to breathe on its own, the doctor may provide warmth, humidity, and oxygen environment.
More serious cases are treated with CPAP.
Check Out – Best Sleeping Position During Pregnancy
Symptoms
The symptoms of hypoxia depend on its severity and quickening of onset.
In case of altitude sickness, where hypoxia generally develops, these symptoms include:
- Fatigue
- tingling or numbness
- nausea
- cerebral anoxia
- limb
Severe hypoxia or rapid onset hypoxia symptoms include:
- Ataxia
- confusion
- anxiety
- hallucinations
- headache
- behavioral change
- extreme restlessness
- cyanosis (change in the body tissue color)
- difficulty in breathing or rapid
- High BP or Low
- heart disease (pulmonary hypertension)
- yellow skin color also be a symptom of jaundice
- increase blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs called (pulmonary hypertension)
- irregular heartbeat
- disoriented (where a person may not know their location and identity, or the time and date)
These symptoms are often difficult to identify, but early detection of symptoms can be vital (6).
Diagnose
To diagnose healthcare provider will perform some physical exams, including:
- Listening to heart and lungs
- check nails conditions
- skin color or tissue
Some other tests that doctors may perform on you to measure oxygen levels in your tissues include:
- Pulse oximetry (where a doctor places a senor over your finger to measure the amount of oxygen in your blood)
- blood test shows the amount of oxygen in your blood
- MRI, X-ray, and CT scan for internal organs to provide any damage due to lack of oxygen and find the cause of hypoxia
- electroencephalogram (EEG)
- Arterial blood gas test (ABG)
- Pulmonary function test (PFT)
- Six – minutes walk test (6MWT) where measured how far you can go in that time.
Effect of hypoxia on health
It has the various effect on health including:
- Increase heart rate
- Heart and circulation
- coronary flow increases greatly when the oxygen is reduced to 8 or 9%
- increase blood pressure
- affecting the conduction tissue
Treatment/Management
If there is a medical condition that is a reason for hypoxemia, then the doctor may provide treatment according to the illness for ex:
- Inhalers and bronchodilators or other medicine to help people with lung diseases like COPD.
- oxygen cylinder for covid fight people, where lungs oxygen capacity decreases at a very low level and covid dose to prevent it.
- CPAP (continuous positive airways pressure) for sleep apnea.
- Before going at a high altitude or deep underwater, prescribed medication may be given.
- Mechanical ventilation in a hospital, in circumstances of severe acute hypoxia (sudden onset).
Management
Management of hypoxia falls under 3 categories include (7) (8) (9) include:
Maintaining patients airways
If people experience symptoms like confusion, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty in breathing then they need immediate medical attention.
The doctor may provide oxygen equipment, sometimes the placement of an endotracheal tube or tracheostomy is necessary.
In chronic conditions like obesity, where maintaining patent airways can be achieved with positive pressure ventilation like CPAP or BiPAP.
Increasing the oxygen level
The doctor provides a ventilator where the oxygen level in the lungs of the person is increased.
However, research has shown that exposure to high oxygen concentrations may lead to harmful effects on health (10).
The doctor may achieve an adequate percentage of oxygen that reaches the alveoli by applying oxygen equipment including:
- Nasal Cannula (disposable tube and inserted into the nostrils)
- Simple Face Mask
- Reservoir cannula
- Partial-rebreather Mask (delivered oxygen to people who need high-concentration oxygen but don’t need help with breathing)
- Air-oxygen blenders and commonly used in patient airway applications
Improving the diffusion capacity
In this pulmonary diffusing capacity of oxygen increases progressively with exercises.
The study found that a high level of exercise may be more affected than other oxygen.
Check Out – Breathing exercises To Increase Lung Capacity – At Home
BOTTOM LINE
Hypoxia is a condition where oxygen is not available in a sufficient amount in the tissue.
Whereas, hypoxemia is defined as a low level of oxygen in the blood, when this happens, the tissue, and organs are not able to work properly.
Anemia is a condition, where the body lacks enough healthy RBC, which leads to irregular heartbeat and can cause a heart attack.
