Subscribe to our newsletter. Get your site now Oxygen Transport and The Oxyhemoglobin Disassociation Curve Lung diseases can effect any or all factors needed for oxygen transport. The transport of oxygen throughout the body is done by the blood stream and the red blood cells. Even after blood has received its load of oxygen, there are more factors that affect blood's willingness to release its cargo such as temperature and pH. These two factors effect what is known as The Oxyhemoglobin Disassociation Curve.
Lung diseases can affect any or all factors needed for oxygen transport.
We treat a diminished ability to get oxygen into the alveoli and then into the capillaries by increasing the concentration of oxygen available to the patient. We can easily do that with supplemental oxygen delivered by nasal cannula or mask, but this doesn't treat the cause of the disease. What it does is buy time for other treatments to work. Once oxygen has made its way past the lung it's up to the blood stream and red blood cells to deliver oxygen to all parts of the body. The bulk of oxygen carried is bound to hemoglobin.