title: [Practical diagnostics of acid-base disorders: part I: differentiation between respiratory and metabolic disturbances].
abstract: The first part of this overview on diagnostic tools for acid-base disorders focuses on basic knowledge for distinguishing between respiratory and metabolic causes of a particular disturbance. Rather than taking sides in the great transatlantic or traditional-modern debate on the best theoretical model for understanding acid-base physiology, this article tries to extract what is most relevant for everyday clinical practice from the three schools involved in these keen debates: the Copenhagen, the Boston and the Stewart schools. Each school is particularly strong in a specific diagnostic or therapeutic field. Appreciating these various strengths a unifying, simplified algorithm together with an acid-base calculator will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Anästhesiologie und Operative Intensivmedizin, Klinikum Augsburg, Augsburg, Deutschland. philipp.deetjen@klinikum-augsburg.de
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deetjen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lichtwarck-Aschoff
mesh_terms: D000137:Acid-Base Imbalance / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D000142:Acidosis, Respiratory / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy