[Classification of respiratory insufficiency in pulmonary tuberculosis]

605 patients with different forms of pulmonary tuberculosis were examined. Blood gases and acid-base condition (ABC) were studied. In 22.2 per cent of the patients, hypoxemia was lacking with normal ABC and no respiratory failure (RF); in 36.6 per cent, hypoxemia was not accompanied by ABC changes and hence was caused by circulatory disturbances; in 15.6 per cent, it was combined with respiratory alcoholism; and in 6.8 per cent, with respiratory acidosis. The rest of the cases found to have metabolic disturbances of the ABC. Thus, hypoxemia is observed both with chronic forms of tuberculosis and with infiltrative/focal one, i.e. it follows a subacute course. In case of pulmonary tuberculosis, it is recommended to isolate subacute RF with PaO2 of 68.3 +/- 0.56 mm Hg, chronic RF of the 1-st phase with PaO2 of 71.8 +/- 0.7 mm Hg and chronic RF of the 2-nd phase with PaO2 of 64.2 +/- 0.88 mm Hg and accompanied by chronic cor pulmonale. In this case it seems necessary to find the basic mechanism of RF which is important for the treatment purposes.