PCO 2 > 45 mm Hg) with a pH level of less than 7.35. They excluded patients with a metabolic acidosis or alkalosis from their analysis, but it is unclear how they defined these 2 acid-base states. Patients with compensated hypercapnia may represent a group of patients with competing acid-base disorders or a cohort of patients who experienced a less grievous initial physiological insult, whereas hypercapnic acidosis may actually reflect an increased severity of injury. As such, patients' pH levels and compensatory status likely represent dependent variables rather than causal agents.This study provides an opportunity to highlight the importance of pH and the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve within the context of microcirculatory resuscitation and cellular oxygen unloading. 2 According to the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve, alkalemia discourages oxygen unloading at the cellular level, whereas acidemia encourages it. 3 Although acidbase abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid alter cerebral blood flow, 4 to our knowledge, no studies have assessed the neurological association of serum pH, and alkalemia in particular, with oxygen unloading. Striving to normalize serological numbers as a surrogate for physiologic normality is a common force in critical care, especially when retrospective data like these support the attainment of "euboxia." While awaiting clinical data from a randomized prospective clinical trial that assesses the association of arterial pH with neurological outcomes in patients who have sustained a cerebral injury, we will continue to manage patients with postcerebral injuries using physiological principles that are associated with the hemoglobin dissociation curve along with other supporting measures. 5