Blood gases and oximetry: calibration-free new dry-chemistry and optical technology for near-patient testing.

The first calibration-free Near-Patient-Testing instrument (NPT7) for blood gases, pH and oximetry has been developed. With cartridges of 30 single-use cuvettes, the NPT7 needs no preparation prior to sample aspiration, no manual calibration, and no maintenance apart from paper and cartridge changes and regulatory quality control. Each cuvette measures pCO2, pO2, pH, total hemoglobin (ctHb), oxygen saturation (sO2), fractions of carboxyhemoglobin (FCOHb) and methemoglobin (FMetHb) on 95 microl whole blood with a 110-s measuring cycle.

Assessment of pH and oxygen status during hemodialysis using the arterial blood line in patients with an arteriovenous fistula.

Background: In patients with arteriovenous fistulas, assessment of pH and oxygen status during hemodialysis (HD) using the extracorporeal dialysis arterial blood line is widely used both in daily routine and in most studies investigating hypoxia during HD. We designed this study to evaluate whether results of blood gas samples drawn from the extracorporeal arterial line were clinically acceptable in assessing oxygen status.

Methods: We compared samples drawn from the extracorporeal arterial line with conventionally arterial punctures during 18 routine HD sessions.

Quantifying pulmonary oxygen transfer deficits in critically ill patients.

The clinical picture describing oxygen transfer deficits in literature is complicated by inconsistent terminology, and a weak perception of the influence total errors of measured and estimated values have on clinical decision-making. Clinical and analytical terminology: Terms like hypoxia, hypoxaemia and tissue hypoxia in clinical literature are often used synonymously. In present terminology, arterial hypoxia (pO2(a)) is considered to be based on measurements of oxygen tension in arterial blood.

Ionized calcium in blood: studies on patients with pulmonary disease.

A new automatic ionized calcium analyser ICA 2 (Radiometer, Copenhagen, Denmark) was used for studies of ionized calcium (cCa2+) in the arterial blood of patients with a compensated respiratory acidosis due to chronic lung disease. The data for 16 patients showed an unexpectedly high level of variation in cCa2+ (range, 1.01-1.