Practice Test Geeks(FANZCA) Fellowship of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Practice Test
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Core Knowledge and Fundamentals Flashcards

7 cards from real FANZCA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Core Knowledge and Fundamentals flashcards as text

  1. During one-lung ventilation (OLV), hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) is inhibited by which of the following?

    Answer: Volatile anaesthetic agents

    Volatile anaesthetic agents directly inhibit HPV in a dose-dependent manner, increasing shunt fraction and worsening hypoxaemia during one-lung ventilation.

  2. The Haldane effect describes:

    Answer: Increased CO2 carrying capacity of deoxygenated haemoglobin

    The Haldane effect describes how deoxygenated haemoglobin carries more CO2 than oxygenated haemoglobin, facilitating CO2 uptake in tissues and release in the lungs.

  3. A patient with severe COPD is breathing spontaneously. Their hypoxic drive to breathe is supplemented by which receptor type?

    Answer: Peripheral chemoreceptors in the carotid bodies

    Peripheral chemoreceptors in the carotid bodies (and aortic arch) respond to low PaO2, and in some severe COPD patients who are chronically hypercapnic, this hypoxic drive becomes proportionally more important.

  4. Functional residual capacity (FRC) is the lung volume at which:

    Answer: Elastic recoil of the lung equals outward chest wall recoil

    FRC is the resting end-expiratory lung volume where the inward elastic recoil of the lung exactly balances the outward recoil of the chest wall, requiring no active muscle work.

  5. Which equation correctly expresses alveolar ventilation (VA)?

    Answer: VA = (tidal volume − dead space) × respiratory rate

    Alveolar ventilation accounts for physiological dead space, so only the portion of tidal volume reaching alveoli (tidal volume minus dead space) contributes to gas exchange, multiplied by respiratory rate.

  6. In a patient under general anaesthesia in the supine position, which lung zone predominates due to the effect of anaesthesia on pulmonary blood flow and ventilation?

    Answer: West Zone 3 (continuous flow, ventilation-perfusion mismatch)

    Under anaesthesia, atelectasis in dependent lung zones shifts perfusion to better-ventilated non-dependent zones, and overall V/Q mismatch increases, with Zone 3 conditions predominating in most regions.

  7. Hypercapnia during general anaesthesia most reliably causes which haemodynamic effect?

    Answer: Increased sympathetic activity and cardiac output

    Hypercapnia stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing catecholamines that increase heart rate, contractility, and cardiac output, often masking any direct myocardial depressant effects of CO2.