PATHOLOGIC CONDITIONS RESULTING IN FETAL ANOXIA AND CYANOSIS OF THE NEWBORN

ANOXIA is a concept of pathologic physiology. Strictly speaking, from the standpoint of pathologic anatomy lesions cannot be ascribed to anoxia because the term, as applied to cells and tissues, has not been sharply defined. A workable definition of tissue anoxia would require knowledge not only of the oxygen content and tension of the blood but of physiologic conditions inside the various tissue cells, their rate of oxygen utilization, their metabolic activity, their state of function, their adaptability to oxygen want and their absolute minimum requirements. There is reason to believe that these factors may vary from cell to cell, from tissue to tissue and from time to time. Moreover, the degree and the duration of oxygen deprivation are bound to influence the effects of anoxia. Thus, anoxia appears to be a relative state, and it is difficult to know at which point and in what circumstances the condition may