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Non-Anion Gap Metabolic Acidosis

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acid-base-
3K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  MedicalExaminer 
#1 ·
Hey,

I've been trying to get my head around why loss of HCO3 from diarrhoea or type 2 RTA leads to a non-anion gap acidosis, when the equation to calculate anion gap is:

[Na + K] - [Cl + HCO3]

I know that I've missed out a bit of physiology knowledge that would make it make sense but at the moment I'm just wondering that shouldn't a lower level of bicarb lead to a bigger number of the anion gap?

Thanks for any help.
 
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