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 intensive care units. The test allows assessment of two related physiological f...

The normal presentation of a patient with a drug induced methemoglobinemia is a low pulse oximetry (SpO2) reading, usually in the mid 80% range, while having a very high PaO2 on an arterial blood gas (ABG)1. We present a case where the initial ABG showed a very high PaO2 and a metabolic alkalosis while the SpO2 fluctuated (85% 99%). Those findings combined with hemodynamic instability complicat...

background  : on-pump coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) surgery impairs gas exchange in the early postoperative period. the main object on this study was evaluation of changes in arterial blood gas values in patients underwent on pump cabg surgery receiving different dose of intravenous nitroglycerin (ntg). methods : sixty-seven consecutive patients undergoing elective on-pump cabg randomly e...

Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis can yield information vital to the management of both acute and chronic disorders affecting gas exchange. In the setting of a restrictive ventilatory impairment due to chest-wall deformities (eg, scoliosis), hypercapnia indicates severe impairment and should prompt consideration of noninvasive ventilation.1 However, arterial puncture is often painful, particula...

BACKGROUND Electrolyte values are measured in most critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients using both an arterial blood gas analyzer (ABG) and a central laboratory auto-analyzer (AA). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether electrolyte levels assessed using an ABG and an AA were equivalent; data on sodium and potassium ion concentrations were examined. METHODS We ret...

results roc-derived spo2 threshold of ≤ 94% can predict hypoxemia (pao2 < 60 mmhg) with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 95%. furthermore, there are associations between the roc-derived spo2 threshold of ≤ 97% and detection of hypoxemia (pao2 < 70 mmhg) with a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 46%. the accuracy of pulse oximetry was not affected by the severity of liver disease...

We describe the patterns of utilization of arterial blood gas (ABG) tests in a large tertiary care hospital. To our knowledge, no hospital-wide analysis of ABG test utilization has been published. We analyzed 491 ABG tests performed during 24 two-hour intervals, representative of different staff shifts throughout the 7-day week. The clinician ordering each ABG test was asked to fill out a utili...

Arterial blood gas (ABG) sampling is a painful procedure with no perfect technique for quelling the discomfort. An ideal local anesthesia should be rapid, easy to learn, inexpensive, and noninvasive. This study was aimed to compare pain levels from ABG sampling performed with vapocoolant spray in comparison to placebo. We hypothesized that pretreatment with the vapocoolant would reduce the pain...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Venous blood gas (VBG) analysis is a safer procedure than arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis and may be an alternative for determining acid-base status. The objective of this study was to examine the agreement between ABG and central VBG samples for all commonly used parameters in a medical intensive care unit (ICU) population. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASURE...