[Alcoholic ketoacidosis].

Alcoholic ketoacidosis is an acute metabolic acidosis that typically occurs in people who chronically abuse alcohol and have a recent history of binge drinking, little or no food intake and persistent vomiting. Alcoholic ketoacidosis is a result of starvation with glycogen depletion and counter-regulatory hormone production, a raised nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) ratio related to the metabolism of ethanol, and volume depletion resulting in ketogenesis. Alcoholic ketoacidosis is characterized by elevated serum ketone levels and a high anion gap. Once the diagnosis of alcoholic ketoacidosis is made, the mainstay of treatment is hydration with 5% dextrose in normal saline. With timely and aggressive intervention, the prognosis for a patient with alcoholic ketoacidosis is good.