Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

In other words a base excess of ‘MINUS 6′ means we would have to ADD 6mmol of bicarbonate to get to a pH of 7.4. Practically speaking the base excess (or base deficit) tells us whether there is a metabolic problem (regardless of the CO2 level that determines respiratory acidosis and alkalosis) The Henderson-Hasselbalch Equation ................
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