Emphysema, Hypoxia and the Polycythemic Response

Abstract

IN normal persons chronic hypoxia results in polycythemia. This phenomenon has been recognized and studied in high-altitude dwellers, and data obtained from such studies have come to be accepted as the normal response to hypoxia.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 It is a common clinical observation that patients with cyanotic congenital heart disease have hemoglobin and hematocrit levels close to those of normal high-altitude dwellers, whereas many patients with chronic hypoxic lung disease have much lower levels than one might expect from the degree of hypoxia present. There is also an impression that in some patients with hypoxia secondary to emphysema polycythemia develops but in . . .