The Ventilatory Response in Severe Metabolic Acidosis

Abstract

1. The ventilatory response to severe metabolic acidosis was studied by measuring arterial blood carbon dioxide tension and pH in sixty-seven patients with blood pH < 7·10, none of whom had hypercapnia, pulmonary oedema, or chronic pulmonary insufficiency. The results were compared with those previously found in patients with uncomplicated diabetic ketoacidosis. 2. By that comparison, fifty-two of the sixty-seven patients with blood pH < 7·10 were judged to have ‘appropriate hypocapnia’, and fifteen had ‘submaximal hypocapnia’. Thirteen of the latter fifteen had circulatory failure and/or acute hypoxia, and seven of nine in whom it was measured had plasma lactate >9 mmol/l. 3. Hyperventilation was therefore usually well sustained in these patients with severe metabolic acidosis, except in most of those with acute tissue hypoxia. The latter may have had insufficient time to achieve maximum hyperventilation in response to their acidosis, or perhaps their submaximal hypercapnia presaged imminent failure of the hyperventilatory response.