Çukurova Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dergisi (Feb 2014)

Comparison of Arterial, Venous and Capillary Blood Gas Measurements in Premature Babies in Newborn Intensive Care Unit

  • Hacer Yapicioglu,
  • Ferda Ozlu,
  • Kenan Ozcan,
  • Yasar Sertdemir,
  • Erdal Taskin,
  • Mehmet Satar,
  • Nejat Narli

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 39, no. 1
pp. 117 – 124

Abstract

Read online

Purpose: to investigate if there were a correlation between blood gas measurements and if we could predict arterial (A) values from capillary (C) or venous (V) measurements in premature infants. Material and Methods:Premature infants with umbilical artery and venous catheters in Newborn Intensive Care Unit were enrolled in to the study. Umbilical arterial, umbilical venous and capillary blood gases were obtained and correlation of pH, pO2, pCO2, BE, HCO3 and oxygen saturation levels were studied. Results: 144 paired of blood gases were obtained from 111 premature infants with a mean gestational age of 29.0 ± 2.5 (24-35) weeks and birth weight of 1173 ± 421 (500-2200) g. Patients were divided in to three birth weights groups: <1000 g (n: 45), 1000-1499 g (n: 39) and ≥1500 g (n: 27). Arterial values of pH, pO2, HCO3 and oxygen saturation were significantly higher and pCO2 values were lower than venous and capillary values. Arterial pO2 could not be predicted from capillary measurements. Especially for babies smaller than 1000 g, venous blood gases seemed to be better for predicting arterial pH, pCO2 and pO2 values. For babies larger than 1000 g, except for pO2, the accuracy and precision for pH, pCO2, BE and HCO3 were approximately the same between C and VBG samplings. Conclusions: Although there is a significant correlation in pH, pCO2, BE, and HCO3 among arterial-venous and arterial-capillary blood gases, correlation for pO2 is low and venous and capillary values can grossly predict arterial values

Keywords