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When a person is recumbent, or is lying down, blood is redistributed from the lower extremities and abdominal cavity (splanchnic circulation) to the lungs. [5] Failure to accommodate this redistribution results in decreased vital capacity and pulmonary compliance , further causing the shortness of breath experienced in PND.
Orthopnea or orthopnoea [1] is shortness of breath (dyspnea) that occurs when lying flat, [2] causing the person to have to sleep propped up in bed or sitting in a chair. It is commonly seen as a late manifestation of heart failure, resulting from fluid redistribution into the central circulation, causing an increase in pulmonary capillary pressure and causing difficulty in breathing.
A related condition, orthodeoxia, describes the clinical finding of low oxygen saturation in the upright position, which improves when lying down. [3] Platypnea and orthodeoxia (low oxygen levels when in upright posture) can co-exist, and this combination is named platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome. [4] [5] The syndrome is considered extremely rare ...
Shortness of breath (SOB), known as dyspnea (in AmE) or dyspnoea (in BrE), is an uncomfortable feeling of not being able to breathe well enough. The American Thoracic Society defines it as "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity", and recommends evaluating dyspnea by assessing the intensity of its distinct ...
Laryngospasm is characterized by involuntary spasms of the laryngeal muscles. It is associated with difficulty or inability to breathe or speak, retractions, a feeling of suffocation, which may be followed by hypoxia-induced loss of consciousness. [2] It may be followed by paroxysmal coughing and in partial laryngospasms, a stridor may be heard ...
The fundamental cause of OSA is a blocked upper airway, usually behind the tongue and epiglottis, whereby the otherwise patent airway, in an erect and awake patient, collapses when the patient is lying on his or her back and loses muscle tone upon entering deep sleep.
Platypnea–orthodeoxia syndrome is a rare medical condition in which a person has shortness of breath and low oxygen saturations when upright (platypnea and orthodeoxia), but no symptoms when lying down. It can be caused by ventilation-perfusion mismatch, intracardiac shunting, or pulmonary shunting. In some cases, the cause is multifactorial ...
Central hypoventilation syndrome (CHS) is a sleep-related breathing disorder that causes ineffective breathing, apnea, or respiratory arrest during sleep (and during wakefulness in severe cases). CHS can either be congenital (CCHS) or acquired (ACHS) later in life.