[The importance of blood gas analysis and acid-base equilibrium in pulmonary embolism]

The authors examined in 60 patients with acute pulmonary embolism values of blood gases and acid-base equilibrium, incl. 30 from arterialized capillary blood, in another 30 subjects from arterial blood. On analysis of capillary blood hypoxaemia was present in all subjects, on analysis of arterial blood only in 63%. Respiratory alkalosis was found on capillary examination in 37%, on arterial examination in 23% of the patients. Hypoxaemia and hypocapnia thus are not specific phenomena in acute pulmonary embolism, in particular when accurate blood collection for analysis is respected, and normal values of paO2 and paCO2 do not rule out the presence of pulmonary embolism. In the development of hypoxaemia in patients with pulmonary embolism participates above all an incomplete right-to-left pulmonary shunt, as revealed during calculation of the magnitude of the shunt by means of the so-called oxygen method in 30 patients with embolism, as compared with a group of 10 healthy subjects.