Question

1. A hospitalized COPD patient experiences breathing difficulties. The health care practitioner immediately administers pure oxygen, which causes the patient to stop breathing. Explain the physiology that caused this outcome.

2. A patient is taken to the emergency room after suffering a penetrating stab wound to the right side of the rib cage. The diagnosis was pneumothorax and a collapsed lung. Explain why the lung collapsed; and why only one lung collapsed and not both.      

                                 

3. Explain the physiology as to why drowning victims usually have water in the lungs.

Answer 1

1) In COPD patients, oxygen toxicity will happen because of administration of pure oxygen.Its due to.retention of carbon dioxide in body. Retention of carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) causes drowsiness and stop of respiration.

2) pneumothorax is entry of air in to pleural space.In collapsed lung, air will escape from lung to outside pleural space due to penetrating injury.Since the right and left main bronchi supplies oxygen to right and left lung,.and their is no air communication between right and left lungs, if one side of lung is collapsed,,it doesn't.afftect the other lung .

3) During drawning, larynx will go for spasm due to entry of water in upper airways. In some cases the larynx relaxes, which leads to entry of water in to lungs.This mechanism is also called wet drowning