Transcutaneous blood gas monitoring during neonatal intensive care.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the accuracy in transcutaneous (Tc) blood gas monitoring in newborn infants, including extremely low birth weight infants, during neonatal intensive care.


METHODS
Tc PO(2) /PCO(2) was monitored in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during stable infant conditions. In comparison, simultaneous arterial PO(2) and PCO(2) was measured. Sixty measurements were taken in 46 infants with median (range) birth weight of 0.93 (0.53-4.7) kg and at median (range) age of 8.5 (1-44) days. Comparison of measurements was performed using Bland-Altman plots, and the mean (95% CI) of the difference was calculated. Comparison was also performed in relation to body weight, postnatal age and oxygen requirement.


RESULTS
The mean (95% CI) difference in PO(2) (TcPO(2)-aPO(2)) was 0.3 (-0.2-0.9) kPa, and the corresponding difference in PCO(2) (TcPCO(2)-aPCO(2)) was 0.4 (0.03-0.8, p < 0.05) kPa. Some differences were related to body weight, age and oxygen requirement, but these differences were small.


CONCLUSIONS
There was good agreement between TcPO(2)/TcPCO(2) and corresponding arterial measurements. The mean difference between the methods was small and clinically acceptable in a current NICU. Tc blood gas monitoring could be recommended as a valuable complement for blood gas monitoring also in extremely low birth weight infants.
Department of Paediatrics, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. kenneth.sandberg@vgregion.se
Kenneth L
KL
Sandberg
Hrolfur
H
Brynjarsson
Ola
O
Hjalmarson
D000367:Age Factors; D001785:Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous / Q000379:methods*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D052577:Infant, Extremely Low Birth Weight / Q000097:blood; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000097:blood*; D007234:Infant, Premature / Q000097:blood; D015931:Intensive Care, Neonatal / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results