Critical care medicine
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The value of continuous transcutaneous oxygen (PtcO2) monitoring in the presence of halothane and nitrous oxide (N2O) was studied in 10 infants. All infants were continuously monitored during the study with a Clark-type skin electrode with Mylar membrane. The polarization voltage of the membrane was changed to 600 mV to make it insensitive to N2O and halothane. ⋯ During the hyperoxic state, poor correlation existed between PaO2 and PtcO2 (r = 0.51). Although PtcO2 did not correlate with PaO2 during hyperoxia, it consistently overestimated PaO2 and thereby, provided a predictive ability by over-diagnosing hyperoxia. When combined with continuous monitoring of inspired oxygen tension to maintain normoxia, continuous monitoring of PtcO2 will reduce the frequency of PaO2 analysis and improve patient care during anesthesia.
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Critical care medicine · Oct 1981
Case ReportsTranscutaneous measurements of carbon dioxide partial pressure in sick neonates.
The authors measured the partial pressure of carbon dioxide transcutaneously (PtcCO2) in 15 sick newborns and compared the PtcCO2 to simultaneously measured partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide (PaCO2). The PtcCO2 values reflected changes in the PaCO2 values. A linear regression on 106 paired PtcCO2 and PaCO2 values produced a correlation coefficient of 4 = 0.91 with a slope of 1.89 and a y-intercept of --9.4. The authors found the measurement of PtcCO2 to be a clinically useful method of continuously following the trend of PaCO2.
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From July 1975 to September 1979, 6 patients were treated with truly prolonged endotracheal intubation; the duration ranged from 55--155 days. Only patients who survived after extubation and were discharged from the hospital were included in this study. Of the 6 patients, 4 were still alive as of November 1980, 23 patients died from causes not related to the intubation. ⋯ In none of these cases was the patient's death related to the intubation. The authors believe that the risk of long-term intubation has been reduced significantly by the use of nasotracheal tubes and to the newer tube materials, which are completely biocompatible, and to improved techniques of cuff inflation. Complications to tracheostomy are less frequent, but often more serious, than complications of long-term nasotracheal intubation.