Can blood gas analysis indicate when mechanical ventilation should start in patients with acute myocardial infarction?
Arterial blood gas analysis of 69 patients with acute myocardial infarction were evaluated to provide a basis for respiratory care. Patients were divided into two groups: group A which received oxygen therapy only (n = 38) and group B which received oxygen therapy with mechanical ventilation (n = 31). The patients in group B were further divided into surviving cases (n = 14) and fatal cases (n = 17). On admission patients assigned to group B had lower PaO2 values than those placed in group A. In group B, there was no difference in the P/F value before mechanical ventilation of the surviving and the fatal cases, but the survivors demonstrated an improvement of the P/F value and an increase in cardiac index after mechanical ventilation. It may be reasonable to assume that a P/F value of less than 250 serves as an indicator for the initiation of mechanical ventilation. An increase in the P/F value after mechanical ventilation seems to be a valuable index to estimate prognosis in respiratory failure.
Matsubara
I
I
Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sapporo City Hospital, Japan.
Kemmotsu
O
O
Tedo
I
I
Gando
S
S
Tsujinaga
H
H
D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy; D012121:Respiration, Artificial