Traditional blood gas interpretation

Traditional blood gas

Diagnostic algorithm for interpreting blood gas results using a traditional approach. This illustrates how blood gas results are interpreted, specifically pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (respiratory component) and base excess (metabolic component). Note that bicarbonate and total carbon dioxide provide similar results to base excess, but none of these three indicators of the metabolic component of acid-base status indicate the type of metabolic acidosis (titration or bicarbonate loss).

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