Respiratory alkalosis

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Respiratory alkalosis
Davenport diagram
ICD-10 E87.3
ICD-9 276.3
DiseasesDB 406
MedlinePlus 000111
eMedicine med/2009 
MeSH D000472

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Overview

Respiratory alkalosis results from increased alveolar respiration (hyperventilation) leading to decreased plasma carbon dioxide concentration. This leads to decreased hydrogen ion and bicarbonate concentrations.

Types

There are two types of respiratory alkalosis: chronic and acute.

  • In acute respiratory alkalosis, increased levels of carbon dioxide are "blown off" by the lungs, which are hyperventilating. During acute respiratory alkalosis, the person may lose consciousness where the rate of ventilation will resume to normal.
  • In chronic respiratory alkalosis, for every 10 mM drop in pCO2 in blood, there is a corresponding 5 mM of bicarbonate ion drop. The drop of 5 mM of bicarbonate ion is a compensation effect which reduces the alkalosis effect of the drop in pCO2 in blood. This is termed metabolic compensation.

Causes

Causes of the alveolar hyperventilation seen in respiratory alkalosis include:

In addition, a respiratory alkalosis is often produced accidentally by doctors (iatrogenically) during mechanical ventilation of patients.

Symptoms

Symptoms of respiratory alkalosis are related to the decreased blood carbon dioxide levels, and include peripheral paraesthesiae. In addition, the alkalosis may disrupt calcium ion balance, and cause the symptoms of hypocalcaemia (such as tetany) with no fall in total serum calcium levels.

See also

Template:Metabolic pathology

Template:SIB

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