Reducing complexity in acid-base diagnosis - how far should we go?

To place in context the potential value of isolated plasma strong ion difference (SID) calculations and strong ion gap (SIG) calculations versus suggested cut-down versions such as SIDa adj and the BICgap respectively.

Stewart's physical chemical approach is seen as a mathematical model of isolated plasma not displacing traditional Copenhagen and Boston approaches. Scanning tools for unmeasured ions based on the Principle of Electrical Neutrality such as the SIG and suggested cut-down versions such as the albumin adjusted anion gap and the BICgap are evaluated for accuracy and clinical usefulness.

Plasma SID and abbreviations such as SIDa adj are not independent variables in vivo since they vary with PCO due to Gibbs Donnan ion traffic. They can also exhibit positive and negative bias, and SID values must be partnered with non-volatile weak acid concentrations when evaluating metabolic acid-base status. The BICgap calculation is a cut down version of the SIG fixed for pH 7.4. It includes phosphate but is otherwise similar in form to the albumin corrected anion gap, with similar sensitivity and specificity characteristics.

Clinicians are unlikely to find SID calculations or cut-down versions such as the SIDa adj clinically useful. The albumin corrected anion gap is in current use and easily determined by mental arithmetic from point of care anion gap printouts plus recent plasma albumin measurements. Any slight advantage of the BICgap would be offset by the complexity of its calculation.