hypercarbia

9.1

A condition in which the blood has too much carbon dioxide

noun
/ˌhaɪpərˈkɑrbiə/

Specialized

: hipercarbia

The doctor explained that hypercarbia occurs when there is too much carbon dioxide in the blood.

Examples

Patients are at increased risk of perioperative hypoxaemia, hypercarbia, and secretion retention, and are consequently best recovered in a high-dependency or intensive care setting; in severe cases, they might need an elective preoperative tracheostomy.

Academic text (2002)
Although controversial, for some authors, the presence of diurnal hypercarbia suggests a more global deficiency in central respiratory control rather than typical CSR 8 9.

Academic text (2007)
During the examination, the patient's hypercarbia led to a discussion about their breathing difficulties.
After the treatment, the team monitored the patient's hypercarbia to ensure their levels returned to normal.

Synonyms

hypercapnia

vshypercarbia

Specialized

1 9.9

A high level of carbon dioxide in the blood

has identical meaning but differs as an alternative technical term

Antonyms

hypocapnia

Specialized

1 9.9

Low carbon dioxide in the blood caused by breathing too fast

How High

hypercarbia

Specialized

9.1

hypocapnia

Specialized

1 9.9

Surface Forms

hypercarbia singular

hypercarbias plural

Morphology

hypercarbia = hyper + carb + ia

The prefix hyper- clearly signals excess, but the remaining medical combining form is specialized and not transparently interpretable for an average B1 learner.

Etymology

The word hypercarbia comes from the parts hyper- meaning 'too much', carb- from 'carbon', and -ia meaning 'condition'. So hypercarbia is the condition of having too much 'carbon dioxide' in the blood.