Blood Gas Lab
Breathless and thirty-two weeks
advancedA 29-year-old at 32 weeks gestation, referred for breathlessness on stairs. The gas is drawn to 'rule things out'.
Blood gas
pH7.45
PaCO231 mmHg
HCO321 mmol/L
PaO298 mmHg
No high/low cues on purpose: read the numbers the way the gas machine prints them.
Stepwise interpretation
Commit to your own read first: pH, primary process, compensation, gap, delta, oxygenation. Then walk the engine’s steps and see where you agree.