No history of the development of blood gas analysis and its application in clinical and physiology research would be complete without consideration of the pioneering work of anesthesiologist researcher Dr John Severinghaus.  As a young research fellow in the 1950s he developed the Stow-Severinghaus-type carbon dioxide ...

As a global marker of tissue oxygenation serum lactate measurement has proven its usefulness in monitoring the critically ill. It has also proved useful as a screening tool for sepsis in the emergency room.  However, lactate measurement is not always readily available. Increased lactate is a common cause of raised...

Close to 20 % of those suffering significant trauma develop thrombocytosis (raised platelet count) in the days and weeks following injury. Although this thrombocytosis is associated with increased risk of complications during recovery, it is also associated with decreased risk of death and thus may have overall...

Although transfusion of donated blood can be life saving, it is a procedure associated with considerable potential risk to the recipient patient. As with any medical treatment or procedure the decision to prescribe donated blood must be made after assessment of the balance between benefit and risk for that particular...

The incidence and significance of hypernatremia (raised plasma sodium) acquired during critical illness is the subject of a recently published retrospective study conducted at the combined medical and surgical intensive care unit of a Brisbane hospital where plasma sodium of all patients is regularly monitored...

Transitory hyperglycemia (raised blood glucose) is a common feature of critical illness that was once viewed as a benign effect that could be safely left untreated, unless it was particularly severe.  This traditional attitude to hyperglycemia in the critically ill changed dramatically in 2001 with the publication of...

The lowest ever recorded arterial oxygen tension (pO₂) was just one result of a series of remarkable physiological investigations conducted on Mount Everest that included arterial blood gas analysis at an altitude of 8,400 m (27,599 ft) above sea level, just 484 m short of the summit.  At this high altitude the...

Premature neonates frequently have inadequate respiratory function and require oxygen therapy during the weeks after birth. Since they are also exquisitely vulnerable to oxygen toxicity, careful monitoring of oxygen status is an essential component of neonatal intensive care.  Measuring % oxygen saturation by pulse...

The notion that increased oxygen delivery limits ischemic damage to the myocardium during myocardial infarction seems, on the face of it, highly plausible. Perhaps not surprising, then, that for the best part of a century administration of oxygen has been a routine component of medical care for many patients suffering ...

Hemolysis, the breakdown of erythrocyte (red-cell) membranes, can occur in vivo as a result of disease, or more commonly in vitro when it is most usually a consequence of poor blood collection or sample handling technique.  Hemolysis is of significance for laboratory staff because it results in the release of...