[Blood gas analysis and acid-base balance in acute myocardial infarction. Personal observations (author's transl)]

Arterial pH, pO2 and pCO2 were analysed with Astup's micromethod on one hundred and three acute myocardial infarctions (A.M.I.) without metabolic, pulmonary and renal diseases. Following the clinical picute, the patients were divided into five groups and results were clinically and statistically evaluated (mean, standard deviation, Student's test "t", correlation coefficient "r" between pO2 and pulmonary arterial diastolic pressure): --Ist group (A.M.I. without complications): only mild hypoxemia; --IInd group (A.M.I. with slight left ventricular failure): more remarkable hypoxemia and hypocapnia, often with respiratory alkalosis; --IIIrd group (A.M.I. complicated by acute pulmonary oedema): mixed acidosis and severe hypoxemia; --IVth group (A.M.I. complicated by shock): prevailing metabolic acidosis and severe hypoxemia. Acidosis shows good correlations with the clinical picture; --Vth group (A.M.I. with serious arrhythmias): mixed and profound acidosis and important hypoxemia during ventricular fibrillation and cardiac arrest. In twenty patients hypoxemia and arterial pulmonary diastolic pressure showed a significant correlation.