Arterial blood gases

Goal: Interpret an Arterial Blood Gas.

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Normal pH is between 7.35 and 7.45.

Want to know why?
Read about the importance of having a stable, narrow range of normal pH here...

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You can use this quiz however you like. No marks are recorded and there is no penalty for a wrong answer, so you may as well just have a go! You can skip questions or only answer one question. Press submit for feedback. 1. An arterial blood pH of 7.4 is Too low Normal → The normal blood pH is between 7.35 to 7.45, so this level is normal. Too high 2. An arterial blood pH of 6.9 is Too low → The normal blood pH is between 7.35 to 7.45, so this level is too low. Normal Too high 3. An arterial blood pH of 7.8 is Too low Normal Too high 4. An arterial blood pH of 7.37 is Too low Normal Too high 5. An arterial blood pH of 7.41 is Too low Normal Too high 6. Normal arterial blood pH values include: 7 7.42 3.5 7.50 7.36 7.35 7.45 7.46 7.4 7.44 Your score is 0 / 0

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Normal pCO2 is between 35 and 45 mmHg. Normal [HCO3-] is between 22 and 26 mEq/L. Want to know more? What do the units 'mmHg' and 'mEq/L' mean?

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1. Question: What is the highest level that arterial blood pCO2 can reach and still be normal? mmHg What is the lowest level that arterial blood HCO3- can reach and still be normal? mEq/L 2. How would you interpret this ABG? pH = 7.25, pCO2 = 60, [HCO3-] = 26 pH is too low pH is normal pH is too high pCO2 is too low pCO2 is normal pCO2 is too high [HCO3-] is too low [HCO3-] is normal [HCO3-] is too high 3. How would you interpret this ABG? pH = 7.8, pCO2 = 25, [HCO3-] = 38 pH is too low pH is normal pH is too high pCO2 is too low pCO2 is normal pCO2 is too high [HCO3-] is too low [HCO3-] is normal [HCO3-] is too high Your score is 0 / 0

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Some abnormal results are dangerous! Critical values can include: pH less than 7.25 or more than 7.55. pCO2 less than 20 or more than... Normal [HCO3-] is between 22 and 26 mEq/L. Want to know more? What do the units 'mmHg' and 'mEq/L' mean?

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Some acid-base terms are confusing! Acidemia means the overall pH is too low. Alkalemia means the overall pH is too high. But often things are complicated and there are multiple abnormal processes going on in the one patient. Each individual process may be pushing the pH in a different direction: Acidosis is a process that is lowering the pH. Alkalosis is a process that is raising the pH. The overall pH is the sum of all the different processes happening at once. So even if the overall pH is low (acidemia), there might be an underlying acidosis AND an alkalosis at work. Or there might be multiple different acidoses at work (read more on that later).

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1. A pH of 8 can be described as Acidemia Alkalemia 2. A pH of 7 can be described as Acidemia Alkalemia 3. True or false: A patient with a pH of 7.21 has at least one source of acidosis in their body. True False → This pH is too low to be normal (which is also called an acidemia). To end up with this pH, there must be at least one abnormal process in the body acting to lower the pH, which is called an acidosis. 4. True or false: A patient with a pH of 7.33 does not have an alkalosis. True False → This overall pH is low, so there must be at least one acidosis present, but there might well be an alkalosis present as well! 5. True or false: A patient with a pH of 7.4 does not have any acidosis or alkalosis. True False → A normal overall pH does not mean that everything is normal, because underneath there may be multiple abnormal processes including acidosis and alkalosis, which sum together to give the overall pH. The underlying problems need careful diagnosis and treatment. Your score is 0 / 0

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