CPR II - First Aid Flashcards
(255 cards)
A 62 year old male comes to see you complaining of dyspnea. Labs show that his PAO2 (alveolar) is 30mmHg greater than his PaO2 (arterial). What portions of this patient’s respiratory system does not contribute to this lab value?
The large airways (nose, pharynx, trachea, bronchi, bronchioles and terminal bronchioles) do not participate in gas exchange and are considered anatomic dead space. Only the respiratory bronchioles, alveolar ducts and alveoli participate in gas exchange.

You are examining histological sections of the respiratory tract of a patient and get the three sections back as seen below. How can you tell where you are at in the respiratory tract by the characteristics seen in these images?

The top image is a section from a main bronchus. Note the presence of cartilage. You would see PCC and goblet cells in a more high power view. The middle image is from a bronchiole. Note the discrete amount of smooth muscle and absence of cartilage. In a more high power view you would see PCC, Clara cells and an absence of goblet cells. The bottom image is from a respiratory bronchiole. Note the absence of cilia, presence of cuboidal cells, simple squamous epithelium and dust cells (alveolar macrophages).
A 59 year old male with a history of smoking comes to see you in your clinic complaining of shortness of breath. His FEV1 is 50% the expected value and FVC is 70% the expected value. You do a chest x-ray to make sure the patient does not have lung cancer, and he does not. You determine that he may have emphysema. At what point during his respiratory cycle is he most likely to have alveolar collapse?
Collapsing pressure = 2(surface tension)/radius. As the radius decreases and surface tension increases the tendency to collapses becomes greater. During the respiratory cycle, the radius decreases during expiration. Thus, this patient will have most alveolar collapse during expiration.
An expecting mother feels like she is going into labor early. She rushes to the hospital and the doctor wants to run a test to make sure the baby’s lungs are developed enough to be able to breath after birth. What is he testing for and what makes the newborn have difficulty breathing if this test comes back abnormal? At how many weeks gestation will this test likely come back as normal?
L (lecithin) : S (sphingomyelin) ratio >2.0. Lecithin is the main component of lung surfactant and will be at increased levels when the fetal lungs are mature (usually week 35). Surfactant production usually begins around week 26. A insufficient amount of surfactant will increase surface tension in the alveoli. Our collapsing pressure equation of 2(surface tension)/radius tells us that as surface tension increases the alveoli will be more likely to collapse.
A 44 year old female comes to the ED with fever, chills, sweats, dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain. Her WBC is elevated and she is admitted to the hospital for treatment of pneumonia. A few hours later you go to check on her and she can hardly breath at all. You determine that she has acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The activity of what cell will largely determine if this patient recovers or will suffer from restrictive lung disease for the rest of her life?
Type 2 pneumocyte. These not only secrete surfactant in the alveoli, they are also the stem cells of the alveoli that proliferate when the lungs are damaged.
What cells line the majority of the alveolar spaces?
Type 1 pneumoctyes. Theses are simple squamous epithelial cells that allow for optimal gas diffusion in these spaces.
What cells found in the termnial bronchioles are nonciliated, columnar cells that secrete a component of surfactant and degrade toxins?
Clara cells
A 77 year old male presents to the ED with increasing dyspnea and chest pain after a long plane ride. History reveals current prostate cancer and DVTs. Chest x-ray reveals decreased prominence of blood vessel markings on the left lung. If this patient is currently having a pulmonary embolism, where in relation to the bronchus would you look on a CT scan? What if vascular markings were decreased on the patient’s right side?
The left pulmonary artery is being occluded in this patient. That artery runs superior to the left main bronchus. If it were the right pulmonary artery, you would look anterior to the right main bronchus.

At what level does the Vena Cava perforate the diaphragm? Esophagus and Vagus Nerve? Aorta, Thoracic Duct and Azygos Vein?
“I 8 10 eggs at 12” I=IVC @ T8. eggs = Esophagus @ T10. at = Aorta @ T12.
You are sitting on beltway waiting for traffic to move. It’s been an hour now and you are beyond frustrated. You are just staring at the car infront of you thinking of absolutely nothing. What muscles are you using to breath at this point?
At this point you would be breathing “quietly”. With quiet inspiration you use the diaphragm and expiration is passive.
You are sitting on the beltway after getting into an accident because a car cut you off. You are fuming. What muscles are you using at this point?
You would probably be doing “labored” breathing. With inspiration you would use the external intercostals, scalenes and SCM. With expiration you would use the rectus abdominis, internal/external obliques, transversus abdominis and internal intercostals.
What lung volume measurements are indicated by the different colors seen in the image below. What does each value mean?

Blue = inspiratory reserve volume (IRV: additional air you can breath in after a normal inspiration). Yellow = tidal volume (TV: air that moves into each lung with a normal quiet inspiration, usually = 500 mL). Green = expiratory reserve volume (ERV: additional air that can be expelled after a normal exhalation). Purple = residual volume (RV: air left in lung after a maximum expiration). Blue + Yellow = Inspiratory capacity (IC: max amount of air you can hold in your lungs). Green + Purple = Functional Residual Capacity (FRC: volume left in lungs after a normal inspiration). Blue + Yellow + Green = Vital Capacity (VC: maximum volume of gas you can expire after a full inspiration). Blue + Yellow + Green + Purple = Total Lung Capacity (TLC: volume present in lungs after a maximum inspiration).

What is an easy way to remember the order from top to bottom in a lung volume graph?
“LITER”: L = lung. I = IRV. T = TV. E = ERV. R = RV. Also remember that a capacity is the sum of 2 or more volumes.
A patient comes to your clinic suffering from emphysema. You want to determine the amount of physiologic dead space in his lungs from his disease. What values do you need to know in order to do this? Where would you expect to find the most dead space where there shouldn’t be dead space?
The equation for physiologic dead space is shown below. You can remember this by the pneumonic Taco, Paco, PEco, Paco (the order of the variables) Vt = tidal volume, PaCO2 = arterial PCO2, PECO2 = expired air PCO2. As far as this patient goes, most emphysema related to smoking will manifest in the upper lungs and will present as dead space.

What is the transmural pressure in the lung-chest wall system at the functional residual capacity (FRC)?
The tendency of the lungs is to collapse (pull in) and the tendency of the chest wall is to expand (pull out). At FRC, you have just quietly exhaled and the inward pull of the lung is balanced with the outward pull of the chest, making transmural pressure (the difference in pressure between the lung and chest wall) = 0 because both systems are at atmospheric pressure.

What part of our respiratory anatomy prevents us from having a pneumothorax every time we exhale?
The negative intrapleural pressure. At FRC (normal exhale) both alveolar and airway pressures = 0 and the only thing keeping that lung from collapsing is the negative intrapleural pressure.
What happens to pulmonary compliance as we age?
As we get older, we lose the elastic recoil in our lungs and the ability to get air out decreases. This increases compliance because we hold more air. This same finding exists in patients with emphysema.
What happens to pulmonary compliance with pneumonia?
Compliance decreases. The increased fluid in the alveoli puts more pressure on the alveoli and increases elastic recoil making it more difficult to hold more air. This also happens with fibrosis of the lung.
What property of hemoglobin contributes to the dissociation curve seen below?

Hemoglobin exhibits positive cooperativity and negative allostery. This means that as O2 binds to the hemoglobin subunits (2 alphas and 2 betas), hemoglobin affinity for O2 increases (300x). This is what causes the rapid ascent of the dissociation curve as pO2 increases.
You hop on the treadmill for the first time in a few months because you feel like a fat turd. You’re also a fat nerd and want to measure your blood O2% as you run. As you first start running, your O2% goes up. Excluding any lung physiology, what could contribute to this finding?
As you exercise your muscle cells work harder and produce CO2, 2,3-BPG, H+, Cl- and your temperature increases. All of these factors actually favor the T (taut) form of hemoglobin over the R (relaxed) form. This pushes the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve to the right, causing an increase in the unloading of O2 by hemoglobin. “C-BEAT” = Cl, BPG, Acid/Altitude, Exercise, Temperature
Why do babies have hemoglobin with a higher affinity for O2 than adults?
The fetus has a different hemoglobin (2 alphas and 2 gammas) that has a lower affinity for 2,3-BPG. This results in an increased tendency for hemoglobin to exist in the R form, a higher affinity for O2 and the oxyhemoglobin curve shifts to the left.
If you are sitting quietly in church, where are the two forms of hemoglobin most likely to be found in your body?
R (relaxed) = respiratory system. T (taut) = tissues.
You are working the night shift in the ED and a patient comes to see you who is cyanotic. His O2% is 75%. Apparently he had just come from a rib eating contest and won before these symptoms began. What may be causing this patient’s O2% to be so low? How could you treat him?
Nitrites are used to cure meat, but ingestion of too many of them will cause oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ in hemoglobin (forming methemoglobin). Methemoglobin does not bind O2 as readily and will cause hypoxemia. You can treat this patient by giving him methylene blue which will reduce Fe3+ back to Fe2+.
When might you consider giving a patient nitrites to save their life?
Cyanide poisoning. Cyanide disables cytochrome oxidase in the ETC. Giving the patient nitrites will convert hemoglobin to methemoglobin which will sequester cyanide and save cytochrome oxidase. You could also give the patient thiosulfate which will bind cyanide and be excreted renally.






































































