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Identifying the Primary Disorder

There are four primary abnormalities of acid-base balance:

Metabolic acidosis
Metabolic alkalosis
Respiratory acidosis
Respiratory alkalosis

These can be differentiated on the basis of changes in pH, serum [HCO₃^-] and pCO₂.

For each abnormality click on the change you would expect to see:

	pH		serum [HCO₃^-]		pCO₂
Metabolic acidosis	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced
Metabolic alkalosis	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced
Respiratory acidosis	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced
Respiratory alkalosis	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced	Raised	Reduced

Solution