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FRANK Q. NUTTALL, MD

Arch Intern Med. 1965;116(5):709-716.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

METABOLIC ACIDOSIS is a clinical state characterized by an excess of hydrogen ions, the source of which are acids other than carbonic. In diabetic acidosis, the source of the excessive hydrogen ion is ketoacids formed during the process of intermediary metabolism in the absence of insulin. The degree of acidemia, ie, lowering of arterial blood pH, will depend on the severity of the metabolic disturbance on the one hand and the efficiency of the compensating mechanisms on the other. Reductions in arterial blood acid-base parameters, pH, [HCO₃—], and P_co2, define the pattern of the metabolic acidosis. Reduction in P_co2 is a reflection of the compensatory hyperventilation (Kussmaul respiration) occurring presumably in response to the lowered pH. If untreated, diabetic acidosis is fatal.

History¹

Stadelmann ² in 1883 was the first to recognize that the symptom complex of diabetic coma was similar to the acid intoxication produced in rabbits by Walter.³ . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
MINNEAPOLIS

Instructor and Chief, Clinical Chemistry Section, Minneapolis Veterans Hospital.

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