Blood Gas Analysis Clinical Guide
The basics of blood gas analysis
Gas diffusion across the alveolar-capillary membrane
All about oxygen transport
What determines how oxygen is delivered to peripheral tissues?
Demystifying the ventilation-perfusion relationship
The importance of carbon dioxide removal
It’s appropriate to focus on arterial blood gas analysis to understand how effectively the lungs oxygenate the blood. But equally important is the test’s value in assessing the elimination of the principal metabolic product of aerobic metabolism—carbon dioxide. The arterial carbon dioxide level is a critical parameter in the other major application of arterial blood gas testing—the analysis of your patient’s acid-base status. The articles in this chapter of our Blood Gas Analysis Clinical Guide, review the principal determinants of arterial PCO2.
A primer on acid-base balance
Looking at arterial oxygen tension is just one aspect of blood gas analysis. In addition to its valuable role in assessing respiratory function, arterial blood gas analysis is vitally important in evaluating acid-base balance. The articles in this chapter describe the relationship between arterial PCO2 and ventilation, in particular, alveolar ventilation. The relationship between arterial PCO2 and pH is reviewed, as are the roles of ventilation and alterations in arterial PCO2 in adjusting arterial pH.