Continuous transcutaneous monitoring of peripheral oxygen and carbon dioxide during infant cardiac surgery

Close monitoring of the balance between oxygen demand and supply is of great importance during cardiac cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) surgery. This study was to compare conventional intermittent venous blood gas monitoring with continuous transcutaneous oxygen and carbon dioxide monitoring in infant patients undergoing cardiac surgery with CPB. According to paired data from 29 infant patients undergoing cardiac surgery we found that a positive correlation existed between the two techniques, with a correlation coefficient 0.9021 and 0.8021 for PO2 and PCO2 respectively. It’s concluded that transcutaneous monitoring and intermittent venous blood sampling had good correlation and transcutaneous monitoring may be used conveniently and safely clinically during CPB.