How can an alteration in the respiratory system affect the heart & alteration in the cv sys. affect respir sys

Question

Just curious how all this works. But I really wanted to know how an alteration in the respiratory system can affect the heart and how can an alteration in the cardiovascular system affect the respiratory system?

Answer 1

first the anatomy and physiology: the lungs function is to bring oxygen in and remove carbon dioxide. the alveoli is where the gas exchange takes place. think of the lungs being an upside down tree with billions of leaves (the alveoli, air sacs of the lungs). the gas (air we breath) goes down the hollow branches called trachea, bronchi, and bronchioles, eventually reaching the alveoli. at this point the heart function becomes important since the blood must be pumped from the heart through the vasculature of the lungs to be deoxygenated (co2 removed) and then reoxygenated. this exchange takes place at the alveolar level in less than 0.75 secs. the oxygenated blood is returned to the heart to be pumped out to the body via the arterial system. the co2 removed is breathed out at a the normal resp rate of about 12 to 20 breaths per minute, but that varies with age and other factors. for instance new borns and young babies breathe at 40 or more breaths per minute. but lets stay confined to say healthy 20 year olds.

the heart beats at about 60 to 100 times per minute for the average healthy person. 72 being a generalized average. considering that the valves of the heart, the pressures in the heart, and vasculature of the lungs are all healthy then these things happen without any thought on our part. to now i have simplified this process to provide you some basic understanding for what comes next.

your question involves unhealthy circumstances so let me pick on something that affects at minimum over 30 million people what is that you ask? smoking. tobacco is implicated in both heart disease, vascular disease, and lung disease, as well as some cancers.
lets follow it from a healthy 20 year old smoker to when they hit 50 or 60. forget the packs per day, just consider the affects which are medically irrefutable. some of the early changes of the lungs occurs with the cells in the bronchioles. specialized cells called cilia are important to keeping the airways protected from outside "stuff". these cilia are like minature brooms always sweeping debris/mucus upward and outward toward the epiglottis (the exit hole of the windpipe) . when the cilia action is arrested by long term smoking then the lungs have long term problems. other factors are the nicotinic actions of the chemical itself, other smokes and vapors in the combustion of the tobacco which increases carbon monoxide levels at the least, and vascular alterations within the lungs, usually constriction of vessel. over years this all amounts to decreases in oxygen content, increases in carbon dioxide, as well as stagnant levels of carbon monoxide. the heart: it begins to react to these insults by beating harder, faster, against the forces in the lung, not to mention that the chemical actions on the body systems is also affecting the heart rate, stroke volume, and tissue of th heart itself. CHF (congestive heart failue) is often the very earliest compromise of the healthy heart. LVH (left ventricular hypertrophy is eventual). Back to the lungs: the alveoli by this time have been affected causing poor matching between blood and air, thus the decrease in oxygen to the blood, compensation for this is to increase the hemoglobin/hematocrit, you may know this as the Red Blood Cell, but its more complex than that, also changes in 2-3 DPG occur, and changes in blood acid levels occur. I'll skip the complex chemistry of this but it is well documented if you do some google searches.

Age 40. person been smoking 20 years. some don't feel anything but the damage has occured and is irreversible even though subtle. at this time the person may consider that their age is catching up with them, they are slightly winded, maybe a few pounds heavier, have been exposed to other things in life which impact health. if they were to stop smoking, cilia action may return, certain cellular morphologic changes would not. they probably experienced bronchitis on frequent occasions and may have even earned the diagnoses of chronic bronchitis, and perhaps COPD. but lets just say all they have is chronic bronchitis.

20 more years of smoking, continued irritation of already injured tissues, a few lung infections (maybe pneumonia) and by now at 60 years old the generalized term COPD is more conclusively Emphysema.

since the heart and lungs are a marriage with the blood (RBC's etc) being the ring that binds them then what is happening to one is being felt by the other. the compensations that each makes begins to cause a breakdown in the marriage, both partners want to help each other but to much baggage is in the way, so they find ways to help one another but not without losses of function and character to the organs involved.

this is only one simplified scenario which tries to reveal to you an answer to your question. other diseases not even related to smoking may cause similar affects. the most common measurable signs and symptoms of all heart and lung malfunction are: low oxygenation, higher than normal CO2, blood acid changes approaching 7.32 to 7.35 and many times worse than that, feelings of shortness of breath (sob) and dyspnea on exertion (doe), increases in heart rate (often having irregularites attached), increases in respiratory rate with corresponding decreases in ventilatory depth, chest wall musculature changes, and heart wall muscular changes, blood pressure changes, and changes in the lung vasculature (pulmonary hypertension).

so i have given you much medical info. tried to keep it simple, and havent given you everything. all of it easily verifiable if you take some time to look into it, and maybe its far more than you wanted to know. .

Answer 2

although it looks like the heart is one big muscle, it actually consists of 4 chambers, and 2 parts -- the right heart and the left heart.

think of the cardiovascular system as a water pump that just pumps water back and forth. venous blood (blood that carries no oxygen) arrives at the right heart, the right heart pumps the blood through a big artery called the pulmonary artery -- the artery allows the blood to travel all throughout the lungs for the blood to bind with oxygen = arterial blood. arterial blood (blood with oxygen) travels to the left part of the heart, and the left heart pumps the arterial blood through the aorta and distributed throughout the body.

when the lungs get sick, the blood vessels in the lungs constrict, therefore the blood being pumped to the blood vessels in the lungs create a back pressure. imagine that you are pumping water through a narrowed hose -- it is harder to pump, and some of them go back inside instead of being pumped. so now, the heart tries to pump harder through the vessel, it eventually gets tired = results in cardiac failure

meanwhile, if there is a defect in the heart, the lung senses it and thinks that it needs to breathe more frequently which results into hyperventilation. most of the lung problems stems from hyPOventilation because the blood becomes acidic. but hyperventilating can be bad for the body too. eventually, the lungs will get tired too and fail, just like the heart.

Answer 3

In simple terms "homeostasis". The body systems work together to keep the body in a stable condition (homeostasis). The lungs and heart work together to keep the oxygen flowing through the body. If the heart is not able to properly pump, the lungs work harder to get oxygen into the system and vice versa. Imagine if you have CHF and your heart cannot properly pump fluids, then your lungs fill up with fluid and it makes it harder for oxygen to get into the alveoli and disperse into the blood. Now think of your lungs not working properly, your heart will pump harder to get blood to the alveoli that are properly working to get the oxygen into the blood. It's all a circle.

Answer 4

Nooope

Answer 5

It sounds like a nursing student trying to get someone to do their homework for them. Look at gmillioni's answer. This should get you an A in the class. It's exactly correct. In the future, do your own homework.