Review on Domiciliary Oxygen: Facts and Fallacies

Molecular oxygen is vital for energy which is essential for life. The fact that we all need oxygen to live might make us think that the use of supplemental oxygen in every hypoxemic patient seems obvious. This is a fallacy. The survival of all metazoan organisms is dependent on the regulation of the delivery and use of oxygen to maintain a balance between the generation of energy and the production of oxygen radicals, potentially toxic. HIF (hypoxia inducible factor) is a transcription factor or nuclear messenger that should be conceptualized as a master regulator of oxygen homeostasis. Therefore, it is proceeded to discuss how its action in hypoxia conditions the activation of diverse genes that codify the synthesis of proteins that explain some of the clinical manifestations and the events of hypoxia. We also discuss how inflammatory diseases of the respiratory system can perpetuate, in the presence of oxygen at inappropriately high doses, the oxidative stress that in turn amplifies the inflammatory phenomenon. Subsequently, the doses of ambulatory oxygen are defined in conventional indications and in some unconventional indications such as air travel and high altitude. Finally, some research avenues are mentioned in this topic.