Acute respiratory failure

Acute respiratory failure refers to a condition in which the patient's original respiratory function is normal, but due to some sudden cause, such as airway obstruction, drowning, drug poisoning, or central neuromuscular diseases inhibiting respiration, the body often does not have time to compensate. If not diagnosed promptly and effective control measures are not taken as early as possible, it can often be life-threatening. However, the original respiratory function of patients with this type of respiratory failure is usually mostly good, and if timely and effective rescue is provided, the prognosis is often better than that of chronic respiratory failure. However, in clinical practice, patients with poor original respiratory function are also commonly seen. Due to some sudden cause, commonly respiratory tract infection causing airway obstruction, PaCO2 may rise sharply and PaO2 may fall sharply. Clinically, it is customary to classify this type of respiratory failure as acute exacerbation of chronic respiratory failure.