An instructive case study report of electrolyte and acid-base disturbance

Serum/plasma potassium concentration in health and disease

In health, plasma total calcium concentration is maintained within the approximate reference interval: 2.20-2.60 mmol/L (8.8-10.4 mg/dL), so that hypercalcemia (increased blood calcium) is defined as plasma total calcium greater than 2.60 mmol/L (10.4 mg/dL). The two most common causes of hypercalcemia are malignant...

Pregnancy is associated with significant anatomical and physiological change in order to both accommodate and sustain the developing fetus. As this literature review article written by two Australian obstetricians makes clear, pregnancy-associated physiological change affects the blood concentration of a range of...

Disturbance of blood calcium concentration is a common feature of many critical illnesses; prevalence studies suggest for example that 50-85 % of patients admitted to intensive/critical care have some degree of hypocalcemia (reduced blood calcium concentration). So monitoring and correction of blood calcium, where...

Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis allows full assessment of patient acid-base status predominantly via the following three parameters generated during the analysis: arterial blood pH; partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood pCO₂(a); and concentration of bicarbonate (HCO₃) in arterial blood. Two of these...

Data collected during a multicenter phase-3 clinical trial of a novel drug treatment for hyperkalemia (raised blood potassium) has provided a serendipitous opportunity to examine the variability of plasma potassium measurement. The trial required recruitment of patients with plasma potassium in the hyperkalemic range...

In health plasma/serum potassium (K⁺) is maintained within the approximate reference range of 3.5 to 5.2 mmol/L, with serum values being slightly higher (∼ 0.4 mmol/L) than those of plasma because the process of blood clotting, essential to recovery of serum samples, is associated with release of potassium from...

In health total plasma calcium concentration is maintained within the approximate reference range of 8.8-10.5 mg/dL (2.20-2.62 mmol/L) so that raised plasma calcium (hypercalcemia) is usually diagnosed if plasma calcium is >10.5 mg/dL (>2.62 mmol/L) and severe, potentially life-threatening hypercalcemia is roughly...

Reduced plasma/serum sodium (hyponatremia), widely defined as plasma/serum sodium Mild hyponatremia, i.e. plasma/serum sodium in the approximate range of 130 to 136 mmol/L, is usually not associated with symptoms, but most patients whose plasma/serum is Explanation of these effects of hyponatremia is contained in...