Abdominal Infections This chapter describes abdominal infections that you are likely to encounter in the ICU, including infections of the biliary tree (acalculous cholecystitis), bowel (Clostridium difficile infections), and peritoneal…
Pancreatitis and Liver Failure The conditions described in this chapter (i.e., necrotizing pancreatitis and liver failure) share the following features: (a) both are associated with injury in multiple organs, (b)…
Calcium and Phosphorus Calcium and phosphorus are responsible for much of the structural integrity of the bony skeleton. Although neither is found in abundance in the soft tissues, both have…
Osmotic Disorders As many as 40% of ICU patients have a problem with the osmotic balance between intracellular and extracellular fluid (1). The signal for this problem is a change…
Acute Kidney Injury As many as 70% of ICU patients have some degree of acute renal dysfunction, and about 5% require renal replacement therapy (1). The acute renal dysfunction that…
Metabolic Alkalosis Metabolic acidosis gets all the headlines, but metabolic alkalosis is the most common acid-base disorder in hospitalized patients (1,2,3). The prevalence of metabolic alkalosis can be attributed to…
Organic Acidoses This chapter describes two clinical disorders that involve excessive production of organic (carbon-based) acids by intermediary metabolism. Both of these disorders, lactic acidosis and ketoacidosis, can be adaptive…
Acid-Base Analysis This chapter describes how to identify acid-base disorders using the pH, PCO2 and bicarbonate (HCO3) concentration in blood. Included are: (a) simple rules for the identification of primary,…
