PMID: 10579248

Issn Print: 0090-3493

Publication Date: 1999/11/01


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Exploring intermittent transcutaneous CO2 monitoring

Daniel A. Rauch; Jeffrey Ewig; Pennie E. Benoit; Eunice Clark; Polly Bijur

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Abstract

Objective:

To explore the accuracy of a continuous transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2) monitor, used in an intermittent rather than a continuous fashion, to obtain quick (<5 mins) CO2 readings.

Design:

Prospective study.

Setting:

An urban pediatric intensive care unit in a university teaching hospital.

Patients:

A convenience sample of pediatric patients with indwelling arterial catheters.

Intervention:

Transcutaneous monitoring was done simultaneous with arterial blood gas monitoring.

Measurements and Main Results:

There were 49 simultaneous-readings on 19 patients, age 5 days to 16 years, with 13 different diagnoses. The TcCO2 was related to the PCO2 by a Pearson product coefficient of 0.79 (p < .0005), with a mean difference of 1.94 (TcCO2 > PCO2) and 95% confidence interval of −0.12 to 4.07. The scatterplot produces a regression line characterized by the following equation: PCO2 = (TcCO2 × 1.05) − 4.08.

Conclusions:

Further study to evaluate intermittent TcCO2 as a practical clinical variable is warranted. This study should encourage refinement of the technology to be more accurate for this use.

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