59-year-old female who has been admitted the acute medical ward
June 20th, 2018
You’re asked to review a 59-year-old female who has been admitted the acute medical ward of your hospital. The nurse tells you that she appears short of breath despite currently receiving 3 litres of oxygen via nasal cannulae. You take an arterial blood gas with the patient on oxygen and the results are shown below…
PaO2: 9.1 (11-13 kPa)
pH: 7.30 (7.35 – 7.45)
PaCO2: 8.4 (4.7-6.0 kPa)
HCO3-: 29 (22-26 mEg/L)
BE: +4 (-2 to +2)
WHAT DOES THE ABG SHOW?DOES THIS BLOOD GAS SUGGEST AN ACUTE OR CHRONIC DERANGEMENT IN CO2? HOW HAVE YOU COME TO THIS CONCLUSION?