Hypercapnia ( ancient Greek ὑπερ- - excessively; καπνός - smoke) - a condition caused by an excessive amount of CO 2 in the blood; carbon dioxide poisoning . It is a special case of hypoxia .
| Hypercapnia | |
|---|---|
 CO 2 molecule | |
| ICD-10 | R 06.8 |
| ICD-9 | 786.09 |
| DiseasesDB | 95 |
| Mesh | D006935 |
When the concentration of CO 2 in the air is more than 5% [1], its inhalation causes symptoms indicating that the body is poisoned : headache , nausea , frequent shallow breathing , sweating and even loss of consciousness . Hypercapnia may occur in the following cases:
- When using faulty closed-circuit breathing apparatus ( rebreathers )
- In poorly ventilated pressure chambers , where they contain a group of people.
- When scoring scuba cylinders
- When using a compressor with bad filters in a stuffy, unventilated area.
- When swimming with a very long breathing tube: when you exhale, the old air with a high CO 2 content remains in such a tube, and the swimmer breathes it in the next breathing cycle.
- When holding breaths under water. Many divers try to save air and hold exhalation. This leads to CO 2 poisoning, which causes headaches.
- As a result of allergic reactions of the body.
The treatment is performed with pure oxygen , but in no case with an increased pressure - in proportion to the partial pressures of gases, hemoglobin will not have time to get rid of oxygen and capture carbon dioxide. Increased oxygen pressure is also a cause of hypercapnia.
To control hypercapnia and hypocapnia in medicine, a capnograph is used - an analyzer for the content of carbon dioxide in exhaled air. Carbon dioxide has a high diffusion capacity, therefore, in the exhaled air it contains almost as much as in the blood, and the value of the partial pressure of CO 2 at the end of the exhalation is an important indicator of the vital activity of the organism.
See also
- Hypocapnia