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Table 37.6

Causes of Respiratory Acidosis (Inadequate Alveolar Ventilation Resulting in a Raised Arterial PCO2)*

Brain
  • Stroke
  • Mass lesion with brainstem compression
  • Encephalitis
  • Sedative drugs
  • Status epilepticus
Spinal cord
  • Cord compression
  • Transverse myelitis
  • Poliomyelitis
  • Motor neuron disease
  • Rabies
Peripheral nerve
  • Guillain-Barré syndrome
  • Critical illness polyneuropathy
  • Toxins
  • Acute intermittent porphyria
  • Vasculitis
  • Diphtheria
Neuromuscular junction
  • Myasthenia gravis
  • Eaton-Lambert syndrome
  • Botulism
  • Toxins
Muscle
  • Myotonic dystrophy
  • Muscular dystrophy
  • Hypokalaemia
  • Hypophosphatemia
  • Rhabdomyolysis
Thoracic cage and pleura
  • Crushed chest
  • Morbid obesity
  • Kyphoscoliosis
  • Ankylosing spondylitis
  • Large pleural effusion
Lungs and airways

* Ventilatory failure commonly results from a combination of factors, for example pneumonia in an obese patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; see Chapter 11.