A 42-year-old male patient is admitted to the intensive care unit for the management of severe acute pancreatitis. On presentation, he was tachycardic and hypotensive. Over the initial 24 hours of admission, he received 7 liters of 0.9% sodium chloride intravenously for aggressive fluid resuscitation. His vital signs are now stable. Laboratory studies obtained on hospital day 2 reveal the following:
Serum sodium:
Serum potassium:
Serum chloride:
Serum bicarbonate:
Blood urea nitrogen:
Serum creatinine:
Arterial blood gas on room air shows:
pH:
:
:
Which of the following is the most likely mechanism underlying this patient's current acid-base abnormality?
- Intravenous administration of a fluid with a supraphysiologic chloride concentrationCevap
- BHypoperfusion-induced shift to anaerobic metabolism and lactate production
- CInadequate ventilatory response to a primary metabolic acid-base derangement
- DFailure of the renal tubules to reabsorb filtered bicarbonate
- ERetention of unmeasured uremic anions due to acute kidney injury
Cevap
Intravenous administration of a fluid with a supraphysiologic chloride concentration
This patient has a normal anion gap metabolic acidosis. The anion gap is calculated as , which in this case is (normal is typically 8-12 mEq/L). The compensatory respiratory response is appropriate, as confirmed by Winter's formula: expected , matching the measured value of 30 mmHg. The cause of this isolated, normal anion gap metabolic acidosis is the aggressive fluid resuscitation with 0.9% normal saline. Normal saline is actually supraphysiologic in its chloride content (154 mEq/L compared to a normal serum chloride of ~100 mEq/L). Massive infusion expands the extracellular volume and drives up serum chloride, which causes a relative decrease in serum bicarbonate to maintain electrical neutrality, resulting in hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis.
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Anahtar Kavram
Normal saline (0.9% NaCl) contains 154 mEq/L of chloride. Large volume resuscitation with this fluid causes a hyperchloremic, normal anion gap metabolic acidosis.
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