What is oxygen saturation?
oxygen saturation is measurement of how much oxygen is available in the bloodstream. When the blood is pumped from the heart to the body, it first passes through the lungs where oxygen molecules bind to red blood cells to transmit to the rest of the body. The percentage of red blood cells, which are fully saturated with oxygen, are referred to as saturation of arterial oxygen, saturation of oxygen in the blood or oxygen level in the blood. Healthy oxygen saturation in the blood is between 95 and 100 percent, but patients with pulmonary disease often have a lower percentage if they do not use supplementary oxygen.
Oximeters of pulse are commonly used to determine oxygen saturation. These are a small device that cures to the patient's patient to the patient to the patient to the patient to the patient. Light rays allow the pulse oximeter to read small changes in the color of the patient's blood, which in turn provides immediate estimate saturation with oxygen in the blood. Pulse oximeters are the most accurate when a strong pulse is present.
For more accurate reading of arterial oxygen saturation, an arterial blood gas test (ABG) may be administered. In this test, blood is usually pumped from the radial artery on the wrist, although other arteries can also be used. This test can be a little more painful than other blood tests-they draw more from a vein rather than an artery-but the test is fast and usually well tolerated with a minimal risk to the patient. ABG results are available in minutes.
Patients with blood oxygen below 90 percent are considered hypoxemia and blood oxygen level below 80 percent is known as severe hypoxemia. Shortness of breath is a primary symptom of hypoxemia. There are various causes for this condition, including congenital heart diseases, low cardiac outlet interstitial lung disease.
Other lung diseases that could cause hypoxemia include lung fibrosis, emphysema, chronic obstitUkive lung disease (COPD), acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), anemia, respiratory obstruction, lungs, plice, plice in the lungs and sleep apnoa. Patients with hypoxemia may be given oxygen to increase oxygen saturation in the blood and is usually recommended not to smoke to avoid pollutants of air such as second -hand smoke, and get regular exercise. Chronic pulmonary or heart disease will have to be treated on the basis of a specialist council to maintain optimal health.