2 Feb 2024 • Do you find yourself staring down at an ABG report and confused about how to read it? 🤔

Dr. Ashima Sharma shares a simple Plan of Action in Arterial Blood Gas Analysis ✅

• Identify the Primary Disorder
• How is Compensatory Response?
• Calculate Anion Gap
• Diseases Responsible?
• Appropriate Treatment

Take a look at this case:

🤰🏻A 23 years old pregnant woman was admitted with a history of polyuria, dysuria, fever, and thirst. She is an insulin dependent diabetic patient. She is febrile. Her chest is clear, and circulation is adequate. Urinalysis shows the presence of ketones, glucose, and leukocytes. Her lab results on admission are: Na+ 136 mmol/L, K+ 4.8 mmol/L, Cl- 101 mmol/L, Glucose 23.2 mmol/L, Urea 8.1 mmol/L, Creatinine 0.09 mmol/L

Alright, you are probably screaming “DKA!”. 🔉

Well, let’s take a look at the ABG results:

pH: 7.26 pCO2 = 14 mmHg pO2 = 133 mmHg HCO3- = 7.1 mmol/L

The low pH indicates Acidosis. pCO2 is low, which signifies alkalosis, while HCO3- is high which indicates Acidosis. So the disorder is a Metabolic Acidosis.

What about Compensation?

The low pCO2 shows that the compensation is Respiratory alkalosis.

Want to know more? Don’t worry!

🔗Click here to Master the Art of Solving ABGs with Dr. Ashima Sharma, right here on Medflix!🤗