Cardiopulmonary Physiology Anatomy

Question

Disease such as cardiogenic pulmonary edema can cause the placement of fluid in interstitial space, drastically reducing the diffusion of oxygen bringing about severe hypoxemia and even death. The interstitum is a space between the?

Answer 1

You are so close, great job! The interstitium is the location/space in the lungs that is between the blood vessels and the alveolar lung sacs.

You can think about this under normal physiology where you diffuse oxygen from alveolar sacs to blood vessels but with edema, this space becomes fluid filled and you cannot diffuse oxygen which leads to the complications you pointed out.

Hope that helps!