Has Stewart approach improved our ability to diagnose acid-base disorders in critically ill patients?

Table 1 Examples of acid-base disorders

	Patient 1	Patient 2
Measured variables
Sodium (mmol/L)	151	146
Potassium (mmol/L)	3.4	3.8
Calcium (mg/dL)	7.0	7.2
Magnesium (mmol/L)	2.0	1.8
Phosphate (mmol/L)	1.0	2.0
Albumin (g/L)	27.0	27.0
Chloride (mmol/L)	121	124
pH	7.48	7.43
PaCO2 (mmHg)	29.0	30.2
Lactate (mmol/L)	2.0	1.3
Derived variables
HCO3- (mmol/L)	21.5	20
BE (mmol/L)	-0.7	-3.8
AG (mmol/L)	12.4	6.3
SID (mmol/L)	29.9	28.8
SIG (mmol/L)	4.5	-1.4

BE: Base excess; AG: Anion gap; SID: Strong ion difference; SIG: Strong ion gap. Modified from Boniatti et al[36].