Dr John Toffaletti, Professor of Pathology, has just published the 3rd edition of his book on blood gas and critical care testing by Academic Press (Elsevier): "Blood Gases and Critical Care Testing: Physiology, Clinical Interpretations, and Laboratory Applications, 3rd edition; Academic Press (Elsevier). ISBN: 978-0-323-89971-0." Thoroughly revised from his popular 2009 2nd edition, Dr Toffaletti enlisted Duke critical care pulmonologist Dr Craig Rackley, a collaborator on several presentations at national meetings, as coauthor to add his unique clinical perspectives to these tests. In addition to blood gases, there are chapters on calcium, magnesium, phosphate, lactate, sodium, potassium, and osmolality. Also, this book provides detailed information about reference intervals for arterial blood, venous blood, and umbilical cord blood. Finally, more practical information on sample handling, point of care testing, and quality control are included.
Dr Toffaletti has worked in the Clinical Laboratories at Duke Medical Center since 1979, where he is now Director of the Blood Gas Laboratory, the Clinical Pediatric Laboratory, and several Outpatient Laboratories. He is also the Chief of Clinical Chemistry at the Durham VA Medical Center. His research interests include blood gases, ionized calcium, magnesium, lactate (sepsis), kidney function tests (creatinine, cystatin C, eGFR) and viscoelastic testing (ROTEM, TEG).
Dr Rackley joined the faculty at Duke University in 2013 and is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and medical director of Duke’s adult ECMO program. He teaches in the school of medicine and practices both outpatient pulmonary medicine and inpatient critical care medicine. He has written articles and chapters on gas exchange, lung injury, mechanical ventilation, and extracorporeal life support, and presents at national and international training courses on mechanical ventilation and extracorporeal life support.