Reprinted with permission from British Journal of Nursing, 2004, Vol 13, No 9.  Arterial puncture is the most common method used to obtain a sample for the measurement of arterial blood gases (ABGs) and is essential to guide the prescription of long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) in patients with chronic hypoxic lung...

A recently published paper describes the sad case history of a 17-year-old man who was brought, unconscious and totally unresponsive (Glasgow Coma Score 3), by ambulance to the emergency department of his local hospital. Blood gas analysis revealed he was suffering severe metabolic acidosis (pH 7.25, bicarbonate 9...

Measurement of blood lactate provides clinicians with a valuable means of identifying and monitoring critically ill patients who are suffering clinical shock as a result of severe trauma, sepsis or cardiogenic shock. Lactic acid accumulates in the blood of these patients due to the tissue hypoxia that results from...

Until 1978, the year of the first oxygenless ascent of Mount Everest, it had been assumed that it was impossible to survive at the summit of Mount Everest (altitude 8800 m) without supplemental oxygen. At this high altitude, pO2 of inspired air is around 50 mmHg, a third of the oxygen content of air at sea level....

Carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) is the product of the reaction between hemoglobin and carbon monoxide, and measurement of COHb is used in the diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning. Since carbon monoxide is a common pollutant present in cigarette smoke and car exhaust, it is difficult to be too dogmatic about what...

This is the second of two articles about the risks and benefits of red-cell transfusion directed at healthcare professionals without any particular transfusion expertise. The focus of the first article was the risks and the extensive measures taken to minimize those risks. For this second article, attention turns to...

When blood gas analysis reveals a reduced pO₂(a) in a patient without any immediate clinical evidence of hypoxemia, consideration should be given to the possibility that the result is falsely low, allowing a diagnosis of spurious or pseudo-hypoxemia.  Technical deficiencies (e.g. sampling of venous rather than...

The standard sample for measurement of blood gases is arterial blood. Arterial puncture is painful and, because of inherent dangers, is usually only performed by qualified medical staff. Arterialized earlobe capillary blood sampling provides a less painful and safer alternative, which can be reliably performed after...

There is widespread confusion concerning the quantities to be used in the description of the oxygen-transport properties of human blood [1]. It all began in 1980 with the introduction of a changed (and wrong) definition of oxygen saturation in a paper on a new instrument for multicomponent analysis (MCA) of...

Although often of life-saving benefit, transfusion of donated red cells is associated with considerable potential risk for the recipient patient. This article, directed at healthcare professionals without any particular transfusion expertise, outlines these risks and the measures taken to minimize them. Particular...