The Anion Gap

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Anion gap is the difference of anion level and cation level within organism body fluid. The common cation that being measured are sodium ion and potassium ion, but potassium ion usually not included within the calculation due to very low amount within human body fluid (Emmett and Narins, 1977, pp. 38). The common anions used in the calculation of anion gap are chloride ion and bicarbonate ion. The calculation of anion gap as following:

[(Na2+ + K+) − (Cl- + HCO3- )]

(Wilson, 2012, p. 907)

Usually, potassium ion is not included due to low concentration and stable amount. Therefore, the calculation is adjusted as following:

[(Na2+) − (Cl- + HCO3- )]

(Emmett and Narins, 1977, pp. 38)

The normal level of anion gap is in range of 3-11 mEq/L (Winter and Pearson et al., 1990, p. 311). Higher range will cause high anion gap which leads to metabolic acidosis. Metabolic acidosis caused acidification of body fluid which due to high amount of anion and low concentration of bicarbonate ion (Alpern and Moe et al., 2012, p. 2049). There are two types of metabolic acidosis, elevated anion gap metabolic acidosis and normal anion gap metabolic acidosis

Elevated anion gap metabolic acidosis

Elevated anion gap metabolic acidosis, usually caused by ‘foreign’ anion inside human fluid. This situation might be due to accumulation of organic acid such as lactic acid. Examples of the acidosis are lactic acidosis and ketoacidosis (Oh and Carroll, 1977, pp. 815)

Given case study patient A, age 32 years old male that diagnosed Type 1 diabetes since age 14 years old. This patient was taken to hospitals due to several symptoms such as drowsiness, fever, cough, abdominal pain and vomiting. This patient also undergoes dehydration and having puls...

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Emmett, M. and Narins, R. G. 1977. Clinical use of the anion gap. Medicine, 56 (1), pp. 38--54.

Katsilambros, N. 2011. Diabetic emergencies. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Oh, M. S. and Carroll, H. J. 1977. The anion gap. The New England journal of medicine, 297 (15), pp. 814--817.

Wilson, D. A. 2012. Clinical veterinary advisor. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Saunders.

Winter, S. D., Pearson, J. R., Gabow, P. A., Schultz, A. L. and Lepoff, R. B. 1990. The fall of the serum anion gap. Archives of internal medicine, 150 (2), p. 311.

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