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Suggest Treatment For Pulmonary Fibrosis
Question: I have pulmonary fibrosis, I know there is no cure for it . I try to maintain my o2 level about 90, whenever I walk any place my 02 drops down to 78 to 80 and when I do that am I killing my brain cells how many and how fast ?
Brief Answer:
mild hypoxia has limited effect on brain
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXX,
Thank you for referring to us in HCM with your question. I will make sure to answer your question to the best of my knowledge.
It is an excellent question, and in an area of few research done on it, most hypoxia research stems from the pediatrics and developmental studies. Nevertheless It is extremely hard to determine the speed of deterioration for chronic hypoxia or intermittent hypoxia in adults. When PaO2 is below 35 mmHg severe acute hypoxia, there is loss of conscience which can result in variable neuronal loss according to severity and length of exposition.
Based on recent research proposed in a review published in 2010 by Renata Areza-Fegyveres et al, addressing the effect of chronic pulmonary diseases on the function of the higher cognitive functions of the brain. It was found that patients with chronic pulmonary disease leading to hypoxia indeed perform worse in tests for attention and mental speed.
But it is very important to categorize the level of hypoxia, mild stage as when oxygen partial pressure (PaO2) is above 50 mmHg, assuming normal red blood cell volume. In this case the body and brain fully compensate and there will be no death of brain cells.
In your case It is the intermittent mild hypoxic type, its not always there and its not severe so the insult to the neurons is not for long time and with the normal blood volume body should be able to compensate. I can not provide an estimate of the number of neurons you will lose each time your oximetery is around 80, probably very few if any since I assume your body will be able to compensate for that loss and redirect blood resources to your brain most sensitive organ in this case.
Insult of hypoxia will affect the regions of the brain most sensitive to oxygen low levels which are subcortical structures and might result in deterioration of attention and mental speed while performing higher cognitive tasks.
please refer to the review its available free on the internet by Renata Areza-Fegyveres 2010 Cognition and chronic hypoxia in pulmonary diseases.
I hope this asnwer was informative enough.
Best regards,
Dr. Nazzal
mild hypoxia has limited effect on brain
Detailed Answer:
Dear XXXX,
Thank you for referring to us in HCM with your question. I will make sure to answer your question to the best of my knowledge.
It is an excellent question, and in an area of few research done on it, most hypoxia research stems from the pediatrics and developmental studies. Nevertheless It is extremely hard to determine the speed of deterioration for chronic hypoxia or intermittent hypoxia in adults. When PaO2 is below 35 mmHg severe acute hypoxia, there is loss of conscience which can result in variable neuronal loss according to severity and length of exposition.
Based on recent research proposed in a review published in 2010 by Renata Areza-Fegyveres et al, addressing the effect of chronic pulmonary diseases on the function of the higher cognitive functions of the brain. It was found that patients with chronic pulmonary disease leading to hypoxia indeed perform worse in tests for attention and mental speed.
But it is very important to categorize the level of hypoxia, mild stage as when oxygen partial pressure (PaO2) is above 50 mmHg, assuming normal red blood cell volume. In this case the body and brain fully compensate and there will be no death of brain cells.
In your case It is the intermittent mild hypoxic type, its not always there and its not severe so the insult to the neurons is not for long time and with the normal blood volume body should be able to compensate. I can not provide an estimate of the number of neurons you will lose each time your oximetery is around 80, probably very few if any since I assume your body will be able to compensate for that loss and redirect blood resources to your brain most sensitive organ in this case.
Insult of hypoxia will affect the regions of the brain most sensitive to oxygen low levels which are subcortical structures and might result in deterioration of attention and mental speed while performing higher cognitive tasks.
please refer to the review its available free on the internet by Renata Areza-Fegyveres 2010 Cognition and chronic hypoxia in pulmonary diseases.
I hope this asnwer was informative enough.
Best regards,
Dr. Nazzal
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
Answered by
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