Blood shift

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Some information in this article or section has not been verified and may not be reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.

Blood shift has at least two separate meanings, in diving and colloquial medical jargon.

  • Blood shift may refer to a phenomenon seen in deep-sea diving. Blood fills up blood vessels in the lung and reduces residual volume. Without this adaptation, human lung would shrink and wrap into its walls and have permanent damage at depths below 30 meters.
  • In the course of an active infection, the bone marrow may begin to release immature leukocytes into the bloodstream, particularly neutrophil band forms. This is often colloquially referred to by physicians as left shift or blood shift. Blood shift may also refer to a similar phenomenon in severe erythroanemia, when reticulocytes and immature erythrocyte precursors appear in the peripheral circulation.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/l/o/Blood_shift.html"