Control of the Uptake of Oxygen

Abstract

DURING the last few years mechanical systems that can control the delivery of oxygen to the lungs have attained widespread use in medicine. Technics for measuring both the amount of oxygen delivered to the upper airways and the level actually within arterial blood have also recently become standardized. This discussion of the control of oxygen uptake will first concentrate on the basic principles of systems frequently used for the delivery of oxygen to the lungs and will then proceed to an analysis of the factors affecting oxygen uptake and the derangements of physiology that prevent oxygen from reaching arterial blood. . . .