The mechanisms and management strategies for diabetic ketoacidosis are discussed elsewhere, as one of the scenarios in critical care endocrinology.
Rather than get bogged down in thick endocrinology (thereby duplicating content from the Endocrinology section) I offer this brief summary, aimed at answering the short ABG interpretation questions rather than the long "how'd you manage this ketoacidosis" or "critically evaluate something" questions.
Ketoacidosis-asociated ABG interpretation questions include the following:
Just like in real life, the ketoacidosis in these questions if often paired with some sort of hyperglycaemic hyperosmolar state. Calculation of corrected sodium is occasionally called for.
A brief summary of different ketoacidosis subvarieties follows:
Starvation ketoacidosis | Alcoholic ketoacidosis | Diabetic ketoacidosis | |
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Mechanism |
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Characteristic features |
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Management |
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Points to note:
UpToDate has a nice summary of this topic for the paying customer.
Oh's Intensive Care manual: Chapter 58 (pp. 629) Diabetic emergencies by Richard Keays
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Alberti, K. G. M. M., et al. "Role of glucagon and other hormones in development of diabetic ketoacidosis." The Lancet 305.7920 (1975): 1307-1311.
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Chua, Horng-Ruey, et al. "Plasma-Lyte 148 vs 0.9% saline for fluid resuscitation in diabetic ketoacidosis." Journal of critical care 27.2 (2012): 138-145.
Stowe, Michele L. "Plasma-Lyte vs. Normal Saline: Preventing Hyperchloremic Acidosis in Fluid Resuscitation for Diabetic Ketoacidosis." (2012).
Jivan, Daksha. "A comparison of the use of normal saline versus Ringers lactate in the fluid resuscitation of diabetic ketoacidosis." (2013).
Basnet, Sangita, et al. "Effect of Normal Saline and Half Normal Saline on Serum Electrolytes During Recovery Phase of Diabetic Ketoacidosis." Journal of intensive care medicine 29.1 (2014): 38-42.
Hillman, K. "Fluid resuscitation in diabetic emergencies—a reappraisal."Intensive care medicine 13.1 (1987): 4-8.
Wagner, Arnd, et al. "Therapy of severe diabetic ketoacidosis. Zero-mortality under very-low-dose insulin application." Diabetes care 22.5 (1999): 674-677.
Chiasson, Jean-Louis, et al. "Diagnosis and treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis and the hyperglycemic hyperosmolar state." Canadian Medical Association Journal 168.7 (2003): 859-866.
Kitabchi, Abbas E., et al. "Hyperglycemic crises in adult patients with diabetes a consensus statement from the American Diabetes Association." Diabetes care 29.12 (2006): 2739-2748.