Monitoring the intravascular Po₂in newborn infants

Abstract

It is often necessary to perform repeated P O2 analyses on a patient.Particularly in the case of newborn infants it is technically difficult to obtain arterial blood samples and the sampling cannot be performed s often s desired.Furthermore -s we will show below -there are great shorttime variations in the arterial oxygen tension (Pa 02 ), wich cannot be revealed by a single analysis.In order to perform continuous P O2 measurements we (A.H. an4 R. H.) have developed three different types of electrodes based on the CLARK principle [6] :1. a catheter electrode for intravascular monitor-2.a cannula electrode, mainly for intraarterial monitoring in adults, 3. a skin surface electrode for transcutaneous monitoring of blood P O2 on "arterialized" skin.The present paper describes the catheter electrode and a clinical study of its efficiency in newborn infants.A preliminary report has akeady been published [13].