• B R Hecker, D L Brown, and D Wilson.
• Department of Anesthesiology, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, WA 98111.
• J Cardiothorac Anesth. 1989 Jun 1; 3 (3): 269-75.

AbstractContinuous mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2), using modified pulmonary artery (PA) catheters, can assist in the management of cardiac surgery patients. Two FDA-approved catheters are available for SvO2 monitoring. One system uses two wavelengths of light and the other is a three-wavelength system. The present study was designed to determine the accuracy of the two catheters during cardiac surgery. Sixty-five consecutive patients were assigned to one of the two catheter groups. Data were collected pre- and post-induction, after sternotomy, and after extracorporeal circulation. An updated hematocrit was entered in the two-wavelength system preceding the last two measurements. Patient demographics, severity of preoperative cardiac disease, and intraoperative hemodynamics were comparable between groups. Two-wavelength determinations varied inconsistently from cooximeter values, while three-wavelength measurements did not differ significantly. Changes in hematocrit were responsible in part for the variability in two-wavelength measurements. In summary, three-wavelength measurements by the Shaw system were more accurate than two-wavelength measurements by the Edwards system.

26 keywords...

hide…