Venous Blood Tests Results and No Doctor to Ask

July 31, 2016 4:13 AM

IKYNMD - was at ER on Friday to the Er due to severe upper right quadrant pain under rib - had ultrasound and they found that the cyst that measured 2 cm about a year ago is now 45mm. Then they took venous gas blood test, can someone please tell me what this means - I am between doctors and the ER sent me home with a letter to go to my regular doctor who is on vacation this week.

PO2 (25.0-40.0)19.3
O2 Saturation (40.0-70.0)22.0
Total Oxygent Content (15-20)4
oxyhemoglobin-oxymet(94.0-98.0) 21.7
deoxyhemoglobin-oxim (0.0-3.0) 76.9
carbpxyhemoglobin-oxime (0.5-1.5) 0.4

Trying to get to another doctor who takes this insurance - I don't know how to even approach this and from what angle at this point - getting to a specialist takes weeks - the ER was pretty useless in treatment - just sent me home with the results. Heart beating fast, and sweating.


Thank you!

posted by watercarrier to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Best answer: First, take a deep breath. If the lab values were of an emergent concern they wouldn't have sent you home.

Unfortunately, there is no good answer to what these mean without being able to interpret them within the context of the rest of your medical history. General lab tests point at possibilities but often do not provide a specific diagnosis. A physician will need to do interpretation and will probably want to rerun anything values they find concerning to confirm that these results are not an aberration.

Unless the discharge instructions said to see a physician within three days or some other short time frame, I would probably wait a week and try to get in to see my physician as soon as they returned from vacation.
posted by Apoch at 5:50 AM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Hi
What was the pH and the pCO2? Those are the two more important numbers. VBGs cannot adequately assess oxygen levels. The machine they are done in spits out a whole panel of results but the pH and the pCO2 are the ones they are actually testing for.
Is the cyst on your pancreas?
Is your pain tolerable enough to wait to see your doctor? If not, does your doctor have a partner or an NP Or PA who can see you?
posted by SyraCarol at 5:54 AM on July 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: PH 7.36
PCO2 - (41.0-51.0) 46.4
Cyst on liver. Hurt so bad on friday. I can wait - it's just the breathlessness that I'm concerned about. Am calling a lot of numbers right now to see the soonest anyone can see me.
posted by watercarrier at 6:12 AM on July 31, 2016

Best answer: That all looks pretty normal for a venous gas. As Syracarol says, you can't really interpret the oxygen values of venous blood, since by definition venous blood is deoxygenated.

We usually use venous gases as a quick way to check pH, lactate, and in my patients their K and HCO3. Can't think of a reason to do a venous gas for a liver cyst, so presumably they were trying to rule out something else at the time (pancreatitis or a PE, maybe).
posted by tinkletown at 6:31 AM on July 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thank you very much everyone - much obliged.
posted by watercarrier at 7:02 AM on July 31, 2016

Just as an aside but hopefully helpful. All of my ER discharge paperwork has had a phone number on it they they tell you to call if you have questions. I'm assuming someone at the hospital you went to should be able to access your records and answer your question as well.
posted by Crystalinne at 12:58 PM on July 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

You've already got the answer (that your results are essentially normal) but I just wanted to add, a carboxyhemoglobin level is most commonly used in the ED to evaluate for carbon monoxide poisoning. Your number is normal for a nonsmoker. I'm assuming it just came along with the panel because they probably were not working you up for CO poisoning.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 11:02 PM on August 1, 2016