The measurement of the tension of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood of the pulmonary artery in man

Hypoxic Pulmonary Vasoconstriction in Humans: Tale or Myth

Hypoxic Pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) describes the physiological adaptive process of lungs to preserves systemic oxygenation. It has clinical implications in the development of pulmonary hypertension which impacts on outcomes of patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery. This review examines both acute and chronic hypoxic vasoconstriction focusing on the distinct clinical implications and highlights the role of calcium and mitochondria in acute versus the role of reactive oxygen species and Rho GTPases in chronic HPV. Furthermore it identifies gaps of knowledge and need for further research in humans to clearly define this phenomenon and the underlying mechanism.

Respiratory measurements of cardiac output: from elegant idea to useful test

The measurement of cardiac output was first proposed by Fick, who published his equation in 1870. Fick's calculation called for the measurement of the contents of oxygen or CO2 in pulmonary arterial and systemic arterial blood. These values could not be determined directly in human subjects until the acceptance of cardiac catheterization as a clinical procedure in 1940. In the meanwhile, several attempts were made to perfect respiratory methods for the indirect determination of blood-gas contents by respiratory techniques that yielded estimates of the mixed venous and pulmonary capillary gas pressures. The immediate uptake of nonresident gases can be used in a similar way to calculate cardiac output, with the added advantage that they are absent from the mixed venous blood. The fact that these procedures are safe and relatively nonintrusive makes them attractive to physiologists, pharmacologists, and sports scientists as well as to clinicians concerned with the physiopathology of the heart and lung. This paper outlines the development of these techniques, with a discussion of some of the ways in which they stimulated research into the transport of gases in the body through the alveolar membrane.