Hypercapnia is excess carbon dioxide CO2 buildup in your body. The condition, also described as hypercapnia, hypercarbia, or carbon dioxide retention, can cause effects such as headaches, dizziness, and fatigue, as well as serious complications such as seizures or loss of consciousness. Hypercapnia may develop as a complication of chronic lung diseases such as COPD , bronchiectasis , emphysema , interstitial lung disease, and cystic fibrosis , as well as some neurological and muscle diseases.
Your CO2 level can be measured with a blood sample, and you may also need other diagnostic tests to identify the cause of your hypercapnia. Often, hypercapnia does not cause obvious effects, and most people do not notice or complain of symptoms. Common symptoms of hypercapnia, if they do occur, include:. Because these effects are so vague, you might not realize that they are caused by hypercapnia.
Some people who have lung disease measure their own oxygen levels at home with a pulse oximeter , but this device cannot detect hypercapnia. When you have a chronic respiratory disease, your CO2 level may be slightly elevated or may increase gradually over the course of years as your disease progresses.
You can also experience sudden bouts of hypercapnia during exacerbations of a pulmonary condition. The level of CO2 in your blood can increase abruptly if you develop a severe lung infection, especially if you already have a chronic lung disease like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD.
Severe hypercapnia can cause noticeable and distressing effects. You may experience sudden respiratory failure , which can lead to a coma and may even be fatal. Seek emergency medical care if you experience any of these.
This gas diffuses into your bloodstream so that it can be exhaled from your lungs. In a healthy person, the typical respiratory rate and depth adequately exhale CO2 from the body. The amount of CO2 in your blood is carefully regulated. When CO2 levels become elevated, special receptors in your brain detect the increased blood level. When hypercapnia occurs, in general, it can result from excess CO2 production or reduced CO2 exhalation from the lungs. There are health issues that may be at the root of this, and a number of risk factors increase the odds of it occurring.
Causes of excess CO2 production include:. Lung disease can interfere with CO2 diffusion. Moreover, while mechanical ventilation is considered the standard of care for severe respiratory failure, it carries significant risk, including infections, lung or vocal cord damage, and other serious complications. To meet that need, ALung developed the Hemolung RAS, an integrated blood pump and gas exchanger that can provide the equivalent of dialysis for the respiratory system.
The device is made up of three discrete components—a minimally invasive flexible catheter that accesses the blood through the jugular or femoral artery, a specially designed cartridge that acts as both a blood pump and a gas exchanger, and a control module that offers real-time measurement of CO 2 removal and blood flow rate. We had to use a lot of computational fluid dynamic simulations to look at how blood is flowing, areas of high shear stresses, areas of stagnation, so we could understand the basic mechanisms of how the device is working and how we can build better prototypes.
ALung spent the last few years fielding the device in Europe, focusing on demonstrating its efficacy to thought leaders who helped them change the way pulmonologists think about treating respiratory failure. In the current environment of evidence-based medicine, we need to prove to physicians that our device works better and is safer than what they are used to doing. The acidity causes oxygen molecules to drop out of the bloodstream too quickly.
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, this combination of high carbon dioxide levels and low oxygen levels creates a harsh body environment and places stress on the cells, tissues and organs. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute reports that a variety of factors can lead to carbon dioxide retention.
An airway disease, such as asthma or chronic obstructive lung disease, impairs the ability of the lungs to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen. Carbon dioxide retention might also be traced to problems with the nervous system, since nerve impulses trigger the lungs to inflate and deflate.
If left untreated, respiratory failure and hypercarbia can lead to dangerous and potentially life-threatening complications. COPD is a term for conditions that make it harder for you to breathe. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are two common examples of COPD.
COPD is often caused by smoking or breathing in harmful air in polluted environments. Over time, COPD causes the alveoli air sacs in your lungs to lose their ability to stretch as they take in oxygen.
COPD can also destroy the walls between these air sacs. COPD can also cause your trachea windpipe and the airways that lead to your alveoli, called bronchioles, to become inflamed. These parts may also produce a lot of extra mucus, making breathing even harder.
The blockage and inflammation impede air flow in and out of the lungs. This can cause CO 2 to build up in your bloodstream. Not everyone with COPD will get hypercapnia. Some underlying conditions can cause dead space in your body. This means that not all of the air you breathe in actually takes part in your breathing process.
In many cases, this involves your lungs not doing their part in gas exchange. Gas exchange is the process by which oxygen enters your blood and CO 2 leaves your body. Problems can be caused by conditions like pulmonary embolus and emphysema. Nerve and muscular conditions can also cause hypercapnia. In some conditions, the nerves and muscles that help you breathe may not work properly.
This condition can affect your ability to get enough oxygen and can lead to too much CO 2 in your bloodstream. Muscular dystrophies , or conditions that cause your muscles to weaken over time, can also make it hard to breathe and get enough oxygen. This protein comes from the liver and is used by your body to keep the lungs healthy.
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