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Journal Scan
October 2008
Towards a more accurate assessment of pleural fluid pH
Pleural effusion, defined as excess fluid in the pleural cavity,
can complicate the course of a pathologically diverse range of
common clinical conditions, including infectious and malignant
disease of the lung, heart failure, cirrhosis, pancreatitis and
rheumatoid arthritis.
Microbiological, cytological and chemical...
Blood gases/acid-base
Preanalytical phase
Journal Scan
July 2008
Orange juice overdose - a quirky case history of potentially fatal hyperkalemia
The notion that orange juice may be harmful to health seems counterintuitive if not bizarre, but as a recently published case history reveals, orange juice contains significant amounts of potassium and ingestion of large quantities of orange juice can lead to hyperkalemia of sufficient severity to threaten life.
Over ...
Glucose
Journal Scan
July 2008
Accuracy of pulse oximetry affected by arterial pCO2
Arterial oxygen saturation sO2(a) is a parameter calculated during blood gas analysis that is useful for monitoring respiratory function. Pulse oximetry provides a safer and more convenient, non-invasive means of measuring oxygen saturation that is used in many clinical settings.
The value of pulse oximetry depends...
Blood gases/acid-base
Quality assurance
Journal Scan
July 2008
Glucose meters in the intensive care unit
Intensive intravenous insulin therapy directed at maintaining blood glucose concentration within tight normal limits (4.4–6.1 mmol/L) is now a standard of care for the critically ill. This requires frequent point of care blood glucose testing.
For appropriate intravenous insulin dosing it is vital that the chosen...
Glucose
Preanalytical phase
Journal Scan
July 2008
Umbilical cord blood gases - a sampling effect
Umbilical cord blood gas analysis provides objective evidence of neonatal condition at birth; a particular utility of the test is to identify those babies who have suffered significant oxygen deficit prior to delivery. Traditional obstetric practice is to clamp the umbilical cord within seconds of delivery but some...
Lactate
Blood gases/acid-base
Neonatology
Preanalytical phase
Journal Scan
July 2008
No improvement in neonatal death rate
Despite significant developments in neonatal medicine over the past decade or two there has been no overall reduction in the number of neonatal deaths according to the results of a recently published US study.
Researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver performed a retrospective study of all 779,385 live...
Neonatology
Journal Scan
April 2008
Blood gas results in respiratory disease - a useful “rule of thumb”
Respiratory acidosis and alkalosis are characterized by primary change in pCO2 (increase in the case of acidosis and decrease in the case of alkalosis). Secondary physiological compensation, aimed at returning blood pH to normal, is evident in blood gas results as a change in bicarbonate concentration (increase in the ...
Blood gases/acid-base
Journal Scan
April 2008
On discharging patients from ICU - a new role for CRP?
Measurement of plasma CRP might be helpful in deciding if patients recovering from critical illness can be safely discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) to other wards, according to the results of a recently published study conducted at the ICU of the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia. A significant minority of ...
CRP
Journal Scan
April 2008
Acid-base balance - one for the novice, one for the expert
Two very different reviews of acid-base pathophysiology are recently published. The first, written by a nurse educator is a comprehensive overview and serves as an introduction to the topic. The approach is familiar and reflects standard physiology texts.
After a very brief synthesis of the significance of...
Blood gases/acid-base