George Kent is a 54 year old widower with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was rushed to the emergency dep
artment with increasing shortness of breath, pyrexia, and a productive cough with yellow-green sputum. He has difficulty in communicating because of his inability to complete a sentence. One of his sons, Jacob, says he has been unwell for three days. Upon examination, crackles and wheezes can be heard in the lower lobes; he has a tachycardia and a bounding pulse. Measurement of arterial blood gas shows pH 7.3, PaCO2 68 mm Hg, HCO3 28 mmol/L, and PaO2 60 mm Hg. How would you interpret this?
The values of the blood gas indicates respiratory acidosis (high PaC02, low Pa02 aparenttly compensed). The tachicardia is dued to the respiratory insufficiency and the fever. Since the patient´s son is not feeling well either, and taking into the account that crackles and wheezes can be heard in the lower lobes, the most likely for this person has a pulmonar infection, probably he contracted pneumonia
