Pathophysiology · Module 1 · Fluids and electrolytes

Fluids and Electrolytes Walkthrough

What goes wrong when body water, sodium, potassium, calcium or acid-base balance slips, why the patient looks the way they do, and what treatment aims to fix. Go at your own pace. Nothing here is graded.

Speed

Think of it like this

Quick check

Wrong answers are fine here. Read why, then try again.

Dr. Akash Garg · Pathophysiology Study Tools · Diagrams are simplified and not to scale. For learning only, not medical advice. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Use the left and right arrow keys to move between steps. Practice next in the Fluids Case Lab.
Simplifications: compartment volumes are rounded values for a 70 kg adult (about 42 L of body water: two-thirds inside cells, one-third outside, and about one-quarter of the outside water in plasma). Starling pressures are the classic teaching numbers (35 and 18 mmHg capillary pressure, 25 mmHg oncotic pressure); interstitial pressures are left out. Lab ranges vary a little between labs. Ions, water drops and cells are drawn far larger than life, and the animations are sped up.