Following induction of anesthesia, factors such as decreased functional residual capacity, increased ventilation/perfusion mismatching, and development of atelectasis can increase venous admixture from 1% to around 10%. Anesthetic agents also suppress hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction and decrease cardiac output, reducing oxygen delivery. However, anesthesia and artificial ventilation lower oxygen requirements by around 15-21% due to decreased metabolism and work of breathing. Oxygen is transported in the blood bound to hemoglobin or dissolved in plasma, and the oxygen dissociation curve illustrates hemoglobin's changing affinity for oxygen at different partial pressures. Multiple factors can shift this curve, facilitating either oxygen loading or unloading as needed.