Anion gap, anion gap corrected for albumin, and base deficit fail to accurately diagnose clinically significant hyperlactatemia in critically ill patients.

摘要

The anion gap calculation (AG) has been used by physicians since the 1940s as a helpful diagnostic and prognostic tool. It represents a "free" bit of clinical data, which becomes available whenever routine electrolytes are measured (and precious little else in medicine these days is free!). The knowledgeable physician can use this information to help create a differential diagnosis; it can also suggest otherwise unsuspected disorders. Serial determinations of the AG can be used as an index of therapeutic response (for example, in ketoacidosis). However, the AG is a relatively gross calculation with a wide normal ranee.