A 22-year-old man was in a motorcycle accident with resultant neck injuries that

Question

A 22-year-old man was in a motorcycle accident with resultant neck injuries that led to partial paralysis of the upper and lower limbs. Almost immediately his chest felt heavy and he became dyspneic. His pulmonary function values were as Vital capacity (supine) 650 mL Minute ventilation (supine) 6 L/min Respiratory rate (supine) 30 b/min PaO2 61 mm Hg PaCO2 47 mm Hg

1. What are the values for the tidal volume (TV) and the alveolar ventilation (AV) for this individual? (Assume a normal value for dead space.) Compare with normal.

2. What is contributing to the decreased alveolar ventilation?

3. Which nerves and muscles are involved in this problem?

4. How is the residual volume affected?

5. Define dyspnea

6. What is causing the dyspnea in this individual?

Explanation / Answer

1. Here the height and the weight of the man is not supplied so it is not possible to calculate the values for the tidal volume (TV) and the alveolar ventilation (AV).
2. This is a motorcycle accident. Here this injury would indicate spinal hematoma and/ or compression.
3. Any nerves arising from the spinal cord are involved in this problem. Generally these problems due to spinal injuries.
4. Here the residual vlolume will not be affected.
5. Dyspnea is the feeling which is associated with impaired breathing.
6.Generally the dyspnea is possible due to chest trauma. In this case it might be going for intercostal muscle weakness or pulmonary contusion or hemothorax etc.

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