title: Venous oxygen saturation.
abstract: Early detection and rapid treatment of tissue hypoxia are important goals. Venous oxygen saturation is an indirect index of global oxygen supply-to-demand ratio. Central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) measurement has become a surrogate for mixed venous oxygen saturation (SvO2). ScvO2 is measured by a catheter placed in the superior vena cava. After results from a single-center study suggested that maintaining ScvO2 values >70% might improve survival rates in septic patients, international practice guidelines included this target in a bundle strategy to treat early sepsis. However, a recent multicenter study with >1500 patients found that the use of central hemodynamic and ScvO2 monitoring did not improve long-term survival when compared to the clinical assessment of the adequacy of circulation. It seems that if sepsis is recognized early, a rapid initiation of antibiotics and adequate fluid resuscitation are more important than measuring venous oxygen saturation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Center for Sepsis Care and Control, Jena University Hospital, Erlanger Allee 101, 07747 Jena, Germany. Electronic address: Christiane.hartog@med.uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: Christiane
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hartog
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Center for Sepsis Care and Control, Jena University Hospital, Erlanger Allee 101, 07747 Jena, Germany. Electronic address: Frank.bloos@med.uni-jena.de.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bloos
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D010092:Oximetry; D010100:Oxygen; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange / Q000502:physiology*; D018805:Sepsis; D014683:Vena Cava, Superior / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: central venous oxygen saturation; hemodynamics; hypoxia; intensive care; sepsis