80 year old man presented with shortness of breath. This patient had history of CHF and COPD. His venous blood gases showed the following
- PH = 7.409
- pCO2 = 54 mmHg
Category Archives: Lab Cases
Lab case 454 interpretation
PH = 7.39, that is within the normal range.
pCO2 = 30 mmHg, that is slightly low. This patient might have respiratory alkalosis.
Next, we should look at the compensation for respiratory acidosis. (This patient is 2 years old. The condition will be acute).
Lab case 454
2-year-old boy brought to ED by ambulance as category 1 for severe croup. His blood gases showed the following.
PH = 7.39
Lab case 453 interpretation
PH = 6.782, that is severe acidaemia.
HCO3 = 2.5 mmol/L, that is extremely low. So we have metabolic acidosis.
Next we need to calculate the compensation and find out what type of metabolic acidosis this patient has.
Lab case 453
72 year-year-old man with history of type II DM and has a single kidney. Presented with 2 weeks of diarrhoea. He has been in bed for 2 weeks. Unresponsive. Last proper meal was 2 weeks ago. His Venous blood gases showed the following:
PH = 6.782
pCO2 = 17 mmHg
pO2 = 75 mmHg
Lab case 452 interpretation
Question 1:
PH = 7.30, that is mild acidaemia.
HCO3 = 18, that is low (less than 24), So we have metabolic acidosis.
Once we have metabolic acidosis, next step is to calculate compensation and anion gap.
Lab case 452
17-year-old boy with wrist fracture. This patient became blue during manipulation of the fracture under bier’s block anaesthetic effect.
Arterial blood gas was performed and it showed the following:
PH = 7.30
PCO2 = 28 mmHg
Lab case 451 interpretation
This VBG was from a young girl with sever gastroenteritis (Vomiting and diarrhoea) for 3 days.
PH = 7.52, that is moderate alkalaemia.
pCO2 = 21 mmHg. So, we have respiratory alkalosis.
Lab case 451
Lab case 450 interpretation
Question 1:
PH = 7.299 that is moderate acidaemia (less than 7.3), however we can argue that is mild as it is just 0.001 less than the value for mild acidaemia – ultimately, it is not going to change the management for the patient.
pCO2 = 52 mmHg, so we have respiratory acidosis.