Venous Blood Gas Measurements in Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

In all but the mildest cases of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), clinicians generally obtain baseline arterial blood gas values to assess the degree of acidosis. These researchers wondered whether venous blood gas values would suffice.

In 44 episodes of DKA presenting to an emergency department, the patients (aged 12 to 69) had simultaneous arterial and venous blood gas determinations. The mean arterial and venous pH values were 7.20 and 7.17, respectively. Values in individual cases were tightly correlated, with a difference exceeding 0.1 in only one case.