Pathophysiology

Pathophysiology Study Guide

anxiety, state of confusion, altered consciousness, arrhythmias, palpitations, and profuse sweating. Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome Adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a medical emergency and becomes life-threatening if not treated immediately. It is caused due to an inadequate amount of oxygen in the blood, which causes the organs to malfunction and leads to organ failure. It is usually caused when the tiny blood vessels of the lungs get damaged or destroyed and the fluid leaks in the air sacs of the lungs. Reasons for this syndrome include inhalation of toxic substances like vomit, salt water, chemicals and smoke; severe infection in the blood; severe infection in the lungs, like pneumonia; injury in the chest or head; and over dosage of sedatives or tricyclic antidepressants. Symptoms of adult respiratory distress syndrome are labored and rapid breath, muscle fatigue, weakness, hypotension, discoloration of skin and nails, dry cough, fever, headache, fast pulse rate, and mental confusion. Infant Respiratory Distress Syndrome Infant respiratory distress syndrome is a disorder related to breathing in premature babies in which the surfactant is either absent or insufficiently produced, which is from the air sacs in the lungs of the newborn not opening. Surfactant is the coating substance around the alveoli in the lungs that begins to develop after 32weeks of pregnancy. Therefore, the more premature the baby is, the less surfactant that will be developed, making the probability of infant syndrome distress higher. Another cause of this disorder is the presence of diabetes in the mother. Symptoms include labored breathing, retractions of the chest below the rib cage, cyanosis, flaring of nostrils when air is inhaled, and grunting at the time of exhalation. In a few hours, when the available amount of surfactant is used up, lungs become stiff and air sacs collapse. This further leads to the damaging of organs including the brain, and eventually it causes death. 4.6 Infection Atelectasis Atelectasis is characterized by the deflation of the alveoli present in the lungs, causing partial or complete collapse of a lung. It can be caused due to obstructed or blocked airway or non- obstructive reasons, such as pressure from the outside. The causes of obstructive atelectasis include accumulation of a mucus plug in the airways, inhalation of a foreign object like a peanut, chronic infections narrowing the major airways, abnormal tumor growth in airways, and a blood clot that is not able to be coughed out. The non-obstructive causes of atelectasis are chest injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, pneumothorax, scarring of the lung tissue, and tumor. Symptoms of atelectasis infection are dyspnea, coughing, and rapid, shallow breathing.

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