Respiratory acidosis
Decrease in blood pH due to insufficient breathing / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Respiratory acidosis is a state in which decreased ventilation (hypoventilation) increases the concentration of carbon dioxide in the blood and decreases the blood's pH (a condition generally called acidosis).
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Respiratory acidosis | |
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Davenport diagram | |
Specialty | Intensive care medicine, pulmonology, internal medicine |
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Carbon dioxide is produced continuously as the body's cells respire, and this CO2 will accumulate rapidly if the lungs do not adequately expel it through alveolar ventilation. Alveolar hypoventilation thus leads to an increased PaCO2 (a condition called hypercapnia). The increase in PaCO2 in turn decreases the HCOā3/PaCO2 ratio and decreases pH.