Extrapulmonary Causes of Acute Respiratory Failure-Early Diagnosis Can Drastically Improve Outcome

Abstract

Extrapulmonary causes of respiratory failure include conditions that exclusively or primarily cause respiratory failure by their effects on structures other than the lungs i.e. the extra pulmonary compartment. They are mainly responsible for the hypercapnic respiratory failure. An analysis of 50 such patients was done at our I.C.U. We tried studying their clinical presentation, their causes and the outcome. The most common age group was 21-40 yrs with a male preponderance. Autonomic dysfunction, ophthalmoplegia, motor and bulbar weakness were the common presentations. Many of them had single breath count (SBC) <20 on presentation. Most common causes were neurotoxic snake bites and Organophosphorus poisoning. The outcome was relatively good if patients were brought early.