Clinical chemistry
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Transcutaneous carbon dioxide and oxygen tensions (tc-pCO2 and tc-pO2) were measured in seven healthy adult volunteers during hyperventilation in atmospheric air and during CO2 inhalation. Three skin sensors were applied to each subject: an O2 electrode, a CO2 electrode, and a combined O2-CO2 electrode, each heated to 44 degrees C. We observed close correlation between tc-pCO2 and capillary-pCO2, the relation being close to that calculated from the anaerobic temperature coefficient of pCO2 in blood. ⋯ Electrode drift during in-vivo monitoring was greater for pCO2 (up to 12%) than for pO2 (up to 7%), but generally we observed no differences in drift between the combined and the single electrodes. We conclude that tc-pCO2 measured with a single or a combined electrode reliably predicts capillary-pCO2 in healthy adults and that changes are rapidly observed. Our conclusions regarding tc-pO2 values are less definite because of uncertain interpretation of the capillary-pO2 values.