ABG Assistant—Towards an Understanding of Complex Acid-Base Disorders

Abstract

The ability to diagnose acid–base imbalances correctly is essential for physicians and other healthcare workers. Despite its importance, it is often considered too complex and confusing. Although most people dealing with arterial blood gases (ABGs) do not usually have problems with acid–base disorder assessment, such an analysis is also carried out by other healthcare workers for whom this can be a challenging task. Many aspects may be problematic, partly due to multiple data analysis methods and no definitive statement on which one is better. According to our survey, the correctness of arterial blood gas analysis is unsatisfactory, especially in mixed disorders, which do not always manifest an obvious set of symptoms. Therefore, ABG parameters can be used as an established biomarker panel, which is considered to be a powerful tool for personalized medicine. Moreover, using different approaches to analyze acid–base disorders can lead to varying diagnoses in some cases. Because of these problems, we developed a mobile application that can spot diagnostic differences by taking into account physiological and chemical approaches, including their variants, with a corrected anion gap. The proposed application is characterized by a high percentage of correct analyses and can be an essential aid for diagnosing acid–base disturbances.

The Importance of Arterial Blood Gas Analysis as a Systemic Diagnosis Approach in Assessing and Preventing Chronic Diseases, From Emergency Medicine to the Daily Practice

“…The ABD may be of simple or primary type with a secondary compensatory response or may be of mixed type-occurrence of two or more independently existing primary ABDs in the same patient [1,2]. Nevertheless, the laboratory diagnosis should always need the comparative data from clinical details.…”

“…Nevertheless, the laboratory diagnosis should always need the comparative data from clinical details. The cause of individual acidemia or alkalaemia should be explored in each single case that allow to unveil a complete picture made of complications and co-morbidities leading to a proper condition management [1,2].…”

“…The raise of an inflammatory state is always a matter of a long term silent and unnoticed loading of acid/base disorders that will eventually manifest later on in life . Most clinicians tend to ignore the effects of exogenous acidifying inducers on pH, although many tend to give a therapy for mild forms of acidemia [1,5,[8][9][10]. Therefore, an understanding of the physiologic consequences of altered pH by the use of ABG analysis would be an imperative in medical assessment (fig.…”

“…There are four simple ABDs generally indicated as: (1) Metabolic acidosis, (2) respiratory acidosis, (3) metabolic alkalosis, and (4) respiratory alkalosis. The use of ABG analysis in all these cases revealed to be a highly precise tool in diagnosis and prognosis including the typology of disorders evaluated as single or primary disorder or mixed ABDs [1].…”

Assess the Knowledge Regarding ABGs Analysis among Nurses

“…Proper ABG analysis is vital for optimal patient management, aiding in the assessment of acid-base status, evaluating responses to treatments, and monitoring disease progression and respiratory function (5,8). Despite the critical role of ABG analysis in diagnosing and managing respiratory failures-indicated by deviations in PaCO2, PaO2, and pH levels-studies reveal a gap in the knowledge and skills of nurses in interpreting these results accurately (6,7). Such gaps can lead to severe complications, including electrolyte imbalances, muscle weakness, narcosis, respiratory failure, organ failure, seizures, chronic kidney disease, arrhythmias, coma, shock, and even death (9).…”