Respiratory Physiology And Gas Exchange Practice Test

A 72-year-old resident of a nursing home is brought to the hospital with a 3-day history of fever, productive cough, and right-sided chest pain. A chest X-ray reveals consolidation in the right lower lobe. His arterial blood gas on room air shows a PaO2 of 58 mmHg. His condition results from alveoli in the affected lobe being filled with inflammatory exudate.

A 58-year-old woman who recently underwent hip replacement surgery develops acute-onset shortness of breath and pleuritic chest pain. Her heart rate is 110/min and respiratory rate is 28/min. A CT angiogram confirms a large pulmonary embolism in the right main pulmonary artery.