ABSTRACT
The maintenance of stable arterial blood gas tensions and a normal arterial pH are prerequisites for a healthy life. Although respiration is ultimately an intracellular process, in a clinical context most attention focuses on the uptake of oxygen and elimination of carbon dioxide which in turn depend on a number of processes:
● effective alveolar ventilation refl ecting the bulk transfer of air in the airways
● diffusion of gases from the lung to the circulation ● passage of blood through the pulmonary circulation ● transport of gases in blood which refl ects the oxygen
and carbon dioxide content of the blood.
