Correction of metabolic acidosis in patients under treatment with intermittent positive pressure respiration ; Correzione dell'acidosi metabolica in pazienti trattati con respirazione a pressione positiva intermittente(IPPR)

Eleven cases of marked metabolic acidosis that appeared in patients subjected to IPPR, that were therapeutically corrected, are presented. 8 to 10 hr from the beginning of the alkalinizing treatment, which was carried out following the standard pharmacologic criteria, the patients developed alkalosis. The main cause of the phenomenon was individuated in the lesser buffer power of the blood at low levels of P(CO2). Therefore, the authors propose a different therapeutic, pharmacologic and diagnostic approach to patients developing metabolic acidosis during IPPR.