Capillary blood gases in a pediatric intensive care unit.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if samples obtained from arterial and capillary sources are comparable in children with diverse pathologic conditions during their stay in a pediatric intensive care unit.


METHODS
Prospective, descriptive study in patients admitted to a multidisciplinary pediatric intensive care unit.


METHODS
Seventy-five simultaneous paired samples (arterial and capillary) were obtained from patients with different degrees of capillary reperfusion, hemodynamic stability, blood pressure, and temperature. Both samples were analyzed < or =5 mins after collection.


RESULTS
The average correlations between arterial and capillary samples were 0.87 for pH, 0.86 for CO2, and 0.65 for oxygen. Neither poor perfusion nor low temperature altered the correlation for pH or CO2. The only condition that significantly affected the correlation was hypotension.


CONCLUSIONS
Capillary blood sampling is a useful alternative to gasometric evaluation of critically ill children, even in the presence of hypothermia or hypoperfusion, provided that hypotension is not present.
Escalante-Kanashiro
R
R
Intensive Care Unit, Instituto de Salud del Niño, Department of Pediatrics, Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Lima, Perú. rescalante@amnet.com.pe
Tantaleán-Da-Fieno
J
J
D001158:Arteries; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002196:Capillaries; D002648:Child; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003422:Critical Care / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006487:Hemostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007022:Hypotension / Q000097:blood; D007035:Hypothermia / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology