Types of Hypoxia

Four Types of Hypoxia – hypoxia is defined by a lack of oxygen exchange at cellular level and can be caused by four different types of hypoxia. These include: hypoxic hypoxia, ischaemic hypoxia, anaemic hypoxia and histotoxic hypoxia.

Hypoxic Hypoxia

Lack of oxygen getting from the lungs to the heart. This can be as a result of a defective mechanism of oxygenation in the lungs, low amount of oxygen in the air, abnormal pulmonary function.

Ischemic Hypoxia

Often called stagnant hypoxia, this form of hypoxia is the result of an inability or failure of the heart to transport oxygenated blood around the body.

Anaemic Hypoxia

This occurs in the vasculature and is defined by the lack of oxygen carrying blood cells, such as in the case of severe bleeding or anaemia, in which the lungs still get oxygen to the heart and the heart still pumps, but there is an insufficiency of oxygen carrying blood to be pumped around the body.

Histotoxic Hypoxia

This is where the oxygen makes it all the way to the blood cells in the desired area, but the actual cells themselves aren’t able to take the oxygen. This also commonly known as oxygen affinity hypoxia, and is fund in Carbon Monoxide poisoning and Cyanide Poisoning, in which the haemoglobin develop a severe affinity with oxygen and does not release the oxygen to the cells.