RT Book, Section A1 Fitzpatrick, Meghan E. A1 Prendergast, Niall T. A1 Rivera-Lebron, Belinda A2 Papadakis, Maxine A. A2 McPhee, Stephen J. A2 Rabow, Michael W. A2 McQuaid, Kenneth R. SR Print(0) ID 1186013275 T1 Hyperventilation Syndromes T2 Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2022 YR 2022 FD 2022 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781264269389 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1186013275 RD 2024/03/28 AB Hyperventilation is an increase in alveolar minute ventilation that leads to hypocapnia. It may be caused by a variety of conditions, such as pregnancy, hypoxemia, obstructive and infiltrative lung diseases, sepsis, liver dysfunction, fever, and pain. Functional hyperventilation may be acute or chronic. Acute hyperventilation presents with hyperpnea, anxiety, paresthesias, carpopedal spasm, and tetany. Chronic hyperventilation may present with various nonspecific symptoms, including fatigue, dyspnea, anxiety, palpitations, and dizziness. The diagnosis of chronic hyperventilation syndrome is established if symptoms are reproduced during voluntary hyperventilation. Once organic causes of hyperventilation have been excluded, treatment of acute hyperventilation consists of breathing through pursed lips or through the nose with one nostril pinched or rebreathing expired gas from a paper bag held over the face in order to decrease respiratory alkalemia and its associated symptoms. Anxiolytic drugs may also be useful.Central neurogenic hyperventilation denotes a monotonous, sustained pattern of rapid and deep breathing seen in comatose patients with brainstem injury of multiple causes.