Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), which is an acute, potentially life-threatening complication of poorly controlled diabetes, is the subject of a recent comprehensive review article.   The authors discuss epidemiological issues, revealing increasing incidence of DKA and decreasing mortality.  Once inevitably fatal, DKA...

Three parameters generated during blood gas analysis, pH, pCO₂ and bicarbonate, provide the means for assessment of patient acid-base status, which is frequently disturbed in the acutely/critically ill. Four broad classes of acid-base disturbance are recognized: metabolic acidosis, respiratory acidosis, metabolic...

Serum sodium concentration is normally maintained within the approximate reference range of 135-145 mmol/L.Abnormal sodium concentration (dysnatremia), which is a relatively common feature of critical illness – affecting 10-20 % of intensive care patients – is associated with adverse outcome for this patient group....

Blood gas analysis provides the means for assessing patient oxygenation status by measurement of two parameters: the partial pressure of oxygen in arterial blood (pO₂(a)) and % oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood (sO₂(a)). Most accurate reflection of in vivo pO₂(a) and sO₂(a)  requires that measurement...

This recently published case study report provides a reminder that blood gas analysis plays an important role in the emergency room assessment of unconscious patients and that disturbance of acid-base homeostasis can be attributable to ingestion of toxic chemicals. The case concerns a 37-year old non-insulin dependant ...

The importance of monitoring blood glucose concentration of premature babies in the hours and days following birth is highlighted by this recently published clinical study. Although it is well established that prematurity is associated with increased risk of both hyperglycemia (increased blood glucose) and...

Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is the biomarker of choice for diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes (myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina). The cardiac muscle cell (myocyte) necrosis, consequent on ischemia that characterises MI, results in release of troponins from necrosed cardiac myocytes to blood and rising...

Blood gas analysis involves measurement of three parameters: pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂) and partial pressure of oxygen (pO₂). Derived (calculated from these measured values) parameters also generated during blood gas analysis include: bicarbonate (HCO₃) concentration, base excess (BE) and oxygen...

The maintenance of blood pH within normal limits (7.35-7.45), called acid-base homeostasis, is a complex synergy involving three organs (lungs, kidneys and brain) as well as chemical buffers in blood and blood cells (erythrocytes). This vital physiologic process is the subject of a recent expert review article,...

Health demands that blood pH is maintained within narrow limits (7.35-7.45). Acidosis (i.e. pH <7.35) is a common feature of many acute/critical conditions that warrant admission to intensive care. pH <6.8 is commonly reported in medical texts as incompatible with life, but there are rare individual case reports of...