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The Drug-Induced Respiratory Disease Website

XXXVIII.h

XXXVIII - Miscellaneous - Varia

Hypoxemia, low oxygen saturation (may occur in isolation)

Last update 17/06/2026

(Fr: hypoxémie/désaturation isolée). Hypoxemia may reflect 1) Deteriorated VA/Q indicating early lung injury, cell sequestration in the distal pulmonary circulation 2) Ventilatory depression (see under IX a, c, d, e), in this case typically associated with a raise in arterial PCO2. See also under methemoglobinemia, a condition that commonly alters SpO2 readings. Rare instances of spurious hypoxemia from oxygen steal or larceny were described in high-WBC-acute leukemia patients receiving ATRA. Postoperative reopening of the foramen ovale may cause severe hypoxemia, sometimes positional (PMID 30619614)

Causative drugs

6
I.a
I.g
I.i
I.n
II.b
VI.c
X.b
XI.a
XIII.k
XXII.b
XXII.e
XXII.f
XXXV.b
XXXVIII.d
XXXVIII.h