Acid-Base Abnormalities Accompany Many Diseases, and Restoration of Normal Blood pH Should Be a Consideration in the Treatment of Any Disease
In most diseases the buffering systems, lungs, and kidneys keep pH within tolerable limits, but in severe disease these homeostatic mechanisms may be inadequate, and life- threatening changes in pH can occur. In the diagnosis and treatment of acid-base abnormalities, it is important to realize that a primary abnormality causes the change in blood pH, which is followed by compensatory changes. Because of the body’s attempt to correct the abnormality, the clinician often
must disentangle the data to differentiate the primary cause of the problem from the compensatory changes. The primary problems are excessive accumulation or elimination of carbon dioxide (respiratory abnormalities) or the excessive accumulation or elimination of fixed acids (metabolic abnormalities).