[Characteristics of oxygen balance and acid-base equilibrium of the blood in patients with hereditary erythrocytosis].

Blood oxygen balance and acid-base equilibrium were studied in 22 Chuvash patients with hereditary erythrocytosis. Despite the lack of the anomalous types of hemoglobin in the given type of erythrocytosis a number of the patients showed secondary tissue hypoxia associated with hyperoxia of the peripheral venous blood. It is shown that tissues are capable of extracting oxygen from the blood. It is assumed that the development of tissue hypoxia in the patients is determined by a fall in the rate of oxygen diffussion from the capillaries to the tissues or by blood shunting via the arteriolo-venular anastomoses because of microcirculatory disorders. The lowering of hematocrit to the level close to normal with the aid of bloodlettings makes oxygen balance return to normal and reduces tissue hypoxia.