Abstract
Correction factors may be used to calibrate heated tcPCO2 electrodes so that heated tcPCO2 will closely correlate with Paco2. Using an in vivo correction factor for blood anaerobic heating coefficient and skin CO2 production, we employed a calibration technique for heated tcPco2 measurements during tcPc02 monitoring of 16 sick infants in newborn intensive care units. We conducted this study to determine whether this calibration method, performed directly on the blood gas instrument, would enable heated tcPco₂ to approximate Paco2 more closely than in vitro calibration methods do in sick newborn infants. Fifty-two paired measurements of tcPCO2 and Paco2 were obtained from the 16 infants. Regression analysis revealed a close linear relationship between tcPCO2 and Paco2, and we predict that tcPCO2 will be within 2 torr of Paco2 in most cases (tcPCO2 = PaCO2 ± 2.22 torr [95% CL]). We conclude that this in vivo calibration technique is acceptable for use in newborn intensive care and is preferable to the in vitro corrections applied by others.
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