Acute respiratory failure is a major cause of care in emergency departments all over the world. This happens because of the inability to maintain respiratory gas exchange, and thus have arterial levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide suitable for the demands of cellular metabolism. Resulting in two types of disorders characterized by reduced arterial pressure of oxygen and increased carbon dioxide pressure. Knowing the causes and pathophysiological approach to drug treatment can provide accurate and save resources and time. This document is reviews of the literature search for information on acute respiratory failure are key words: respiratory distress, hypoxemia, hypercapnia, non invasive ventilation, mechanical ventilation in PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/), which enable the general practitioner to know how often this entity, its diagnosis and therapeutic approach in sequence in the patient’s bedside.
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