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A 70-year-old female patient recently moved to Denver, CO (much higher…
A 70-year-old female patient recently moved to Denver, CO (much higher altitude) to be near her daughter. She went to the E.R. for breathing difficulty and developed a viral infection of the lungs. Symptoms: fast, shallow breathing and wet, wheezing coughs.
For each factor identified as a cause, give the effects of these factors on her respiration.
Higher elevation results in lower partial pressure of O2 which creates difficulty in O2 diffusion during alveolar gas exchange
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Older age can create issues with lung tissues; specifically muscles and tissues will lose ability to keep airways entirely open and alveoles and bronchioles over time can slightly disform
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Consider relevant factors that affect this patient such as age, location, and presence
of a viral infection. Are these factors inter-related?
Because of the patient's older age, her lungs may have already had prior damage and therefore she may already have difficulty with breathing
The higher elevation causes lower atmospheric pressure and therefore lower partial pressure of O2. This causes more difficulty for O2 to diffuse across respiratory membrane into blood during alveolar gas exchange.
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Overall, these three factors simply add more damage to each other
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The concepts of partial pressure and how elevation affects partial pressure,
The more elevated you are, the lower the atmospheric pressure. The lower atmospheric pressure, the lower the partial pressure of O2
Partial pressure - pressure exerted by each gas within a mixture of gases. Is measured in mmHg. The higher the partial pressure of a gas, the higher the concentration.
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why she has fast, shallow breathing, wet, wheezy cough, and fluid in the lungs. What is directly causing these problems, and what will happen if they are untreated?
Pneumonia - a lung infection that results in alveoli filling with fluid, most likely results from a bacterial/viral infection.
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If left untreated
Her lungs will start filling up with so much fluid that she will be unable to breathe. She will eventually drown to death.
Pleura could start swelling up, causing inflammation and fluid buildup between pleura
interactions between her respiratory system and other systems (e.g. immune, circulatory, cardiovascular) that might be complicating her illness?