Carbon Dioxide Retention and Hypoxic Drive

The exhalation process may be impaired

By various types of lung disease.

The body may also produce too much carbon dioxide

Either temporarily or chronically, depending on the disease or abnormality.

The failure of respiratory centers in the brain to respond normally to a rise in arterial levels of carbon dioxide

May be due to chronic carbon dioxide retention.

When carbon dioxide levels become elevated

The respiratory centers in the brain adjust the rate and depth of ventilation accordingly.

Patients with chronic lung diseases have difficulty eliminating carbon dioxide through exhalation

Thus, they always have higher levels of carbon dioxide.

This condition potentially

Alters the drive for breathing.

Hypoxic drive occurs when

The brain gradually accommodates high levels of carbon dioxide and uses a “backup system” to control breathing based on low levels of oxygen, rather than high levels of carbon dioxide.

Hypoxic drive is frequently found in

End-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Use caution when providing high concentrations of oxygen on a long-term basis to patients with chronic lung disease

But never withhold oxygen therapy from a patient who needs it.