Anion Gap
Definition
Sodium minus the sum of chloride and bicarbonate in serum. A widened anion gap (above 16) in a comatose patient with unexplained acidosis is the bedside clue to methanol or ethylene glycol.
Related terms
- Carboxyhaemoglobin (COHb)
- The compound formed when carbon monoxide binds to haemoglobin at the oxygen-binding site, with an affinity 200-250 times greater than oxygen. Produces...
- Cherry-Pink Lividity
- The bright pink discolouration of dependent tissues seen in CO and cyanide deaths. In CO the colour comes from COHb itself, in...
- Conway Microdiffusion
- A two-chamber glass cell in which an acid in the outer ring liberates HCN from the sample and the gas diffuses into...
- Headspace GC
- Gas chromatography in which the sample (blood, urine, vitreous) is sealed in a vial, equilibrated at a fixed temperature, and a portion...
- Saturation Kinetics
- Enzyme behaviour at substrate concentrations above the Km, where the rate of metabolism is constant rather than proportional to concentration. Ethanol saturates...
Explained in
- Gases and Volatile Poisons: CO, Cyanide, Methanol, EthanolSodium minus the sum of chloride and bicarbonate in serum. A widened anion gap (above 16) in a comatose patient with unexplained acidosis is the bedside clue t...