A 40 year old man comes with complaints of vomiting for last 3 days. ABG repo shows a pH = 7.22. pCO2 = 21 mm Hg and HCO3= 9 meq/dl. Diagnosis is?
High-Yield Explanation
The pH shows acidosis and HCO3 is low indicating the primary derangement as metabolic acidosis. The patient will compensate with respiratory alkalosis. To check for compensation Winter's formula is applied = 1.5 X(HCO3) + 8 +2 = 1.5 x 9 + 8 + 2 = 21.5 + 2 Since the value of pCO2 of the patient is as per the calculation patient is having paicularly compensated metabolic acidosis. The patient will compensate with respiratory alkalosis. If the value of pCO2 was less than 19.5 or more than 23.54 than mixed disorder would have been present.