Patients with chronic obstruction pulmonary disease (COPD) may need long-term oxygen therapy, monitored with blood gas analysis (pO₂(a) and sO₂(a)). It is important that when adjustments are made to this therapy (either increase or decrease in fraction inspired oxygen, FIO₂) there should be delay until a new steady...

Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding is becoming an increasingly international issue.  Although the problem is not only resolved by ED change management (but rather requires a system-wide solution recognizing the complex interdependencies of consumer expectations, human resources, information systems immaturity and...

Hemolysis causes clinically significant bias in four of twelve parameters generated during blood gas analysis. That is the headline finding of a recently published study that is, according to the authors, the first ever to investigate the effect of hemolysis on blood gas analytes. Venous blood was sampled from nine...

By comparison with other patient data generated in clinical laboratories, arterial blood gas results are commonly perceived by students and junior clinical staff to be among the most difficult to understand and interpret. Help is at hand. In a recent, easily comprehended article the authors provide a logical stepwise...

Arterial blood gases (ABG), a clinical test that involves measurement of the pH of arterial blood and the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide dissolved in arterial blood, is routinely used in the diagnosis and monitoring of predominantly critically/acutely ill patients being cared for in hospital emergency rooms and...

Pulse oximeters, which are ubiquitous in nearly all areas of clinical care, provide the means for safe, non-invasive continuous monitoring of blood oxygen saturation. The validity of using pulse oximetry to assess patient blood oxygenation status depends on SpO₂, the parameter measured by pulse oximetry, being a...

Arterial blood gas analysis in cases of metabolic acidosis reveals primary decrease in pH and bicarbonate, and secondary (compensatory) reduction in pCO₂. The most common cause of metabolic acidosis is increased production of endogenous metabolic acids, either lactic acid, in which case the condition is called lactic...

Many authors contend that drawing of umbilical ABGs is a simple method to evaluate the condition of the neonate and ideally would be routinely done for all newborns [13]. Other authors disagree. Appropriate general principles guide clinicians when drawing and interpreting ABGs for all patients. The special needs of...

Calcium is an essential mineral required for numerous biological functions. In circulation, calcium is found in three different fractions, anion-bound, protein-bound and free or ”ionized”. The amount of calcium in each of these fractions is dependent on the concentration of hydrogen ions, anions and plasma proteins....

The preanalytical phase of laboratory testing has long been recognized as a stage for potential error, and blood gas analysis is a test that is well-recognized as being particularly vulnerable in this regard. Much research has been directed at devising procedures that minimize variability of measured blood gas...