[Severe hypoxemia in cirrhosis]

Various respiratory signs (other than infectious pathology), either very frequent and mild or very rare but with a poor prognosis, can be observed in cirrhotic subjects. Hypoxemia raises the greatest diagnostic problems in these subjects. The poor homogeneity of ventilation-perfusion ratios is the most commonly proposed cause of hypoxemia in cirrhosis. In such cases, hypoxemia is typically moderate (60-80 mmHg). Conversely, anatomical shunts, especially intrapulmonary ones, account for severe hypoxemia (< 60 mmHg). We are reporting about the case of a severe form of hypoxemia without anatomical shunt, caused by an anomalous ventilation-perfusion ratio in a female patient with ethylic cirrhosis.