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Critical Care (London, England) Jul 2015Pulse oximetry is universally used for monitoring patients in the critical care setting. This article updates the review on pulse oximetry that was published in 1999 in... (Review)
Review
Pulse oximetry is universally used for monitoring patients in the critical care setting. This article updates the review on pulse oximetry that was published in 1999 in Critical Care. A summary of the recently developed multiwavelength pulse oximeters and their ability in detecting dyshemoglobins is provided. The impact of the latest signal processing techniques and reflectance technology on improving the performance of pulse oximeters during motion artifact and low perfusion conditions is critically examined. Finally, data regarding the effect of pulse oximetry on patient outcome are discussed.
Topics: Critical Care; Critical Illness; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry
PubMed: 26179876
DOI: 10.1186/s13054-015-0984-8 -
Respiratory Medicine Jun 2013Pulse oximetry has revolutionized the ability to monitor oxygenation in a continuous, accurate, and non-invasive fashion. Despite its ubiquitous use, it is our... (Review)
Review
Pulse oximetry has revolutionized the ability to monitor oxygenation in a continuous, accurate, and non-invasive fashion. Despite its ubiquitous use, it is our impression and supported by studies that many providers do not know the basic principles behind its mechanism of function. This knowledge is important because it provides the conceptual basis of appreciating its limitations and recognizing when pulse oximeter readings may be erroneous. In this review, we discuss how pulse oximeters are able to distinguish oxygenated hemoglobin from deoxygenated hemoglobin and how they are able to recognize oxygen saturation only from the arterial compartment of blood. Based on these principles, we discuss the various conditions that can cause spurious readings and the mechanisms underlying them.
Topics: Diagnostic Errors; Fetal Hemoglobin; Hemoglobins, Abnormal; Humans; Oximetry; Oxygen; Oxyhemoglobins; Partial Pressure
PubMed: 23490227
DOI: 10.1016/j.rmed.2013.02.004 -
Respiratory Care Oct 2013We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library database for articles published between January 1990 and December 2012. The update of this clinical practice guideline... (Review)
Review
We searched MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library database for articles published between January 1990 and December 2012. The update of this clinical practice guideline is based on 237 clinical trials, 54 reviews, and 23 meta-analyses on blood gas analysis (BGA) and hemoximetry. The following recommendations are made following the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation scoring system. BGA and hemoximetry are recommended for evaluating a patient's ventilatory, acid-base, and/or oxygenation status. BGA and hemoximetry are suggested for evaluating a patient's response to therapeutic interventions. BGA and hemoximetry are recommended for monitoring severity and progression of documented cardiopulmonary disease processes. Hemoximetry is recommended to determine the impact of dyshemoglobins on oxygenation. Capillary BGA is not recommended to determine oxygenation status. Central venous BGA and hemoximetry are suggested to determine oxygen consumption in the setting of early goal-directed therapies. For the assessment of oxygenation, a peripheral venous P(O2) is not recommended as a substitute for an arterial blood measurement (P(aO2)). It is not recommended to use venous P(CO2) and pH as a substitute for arterial blood measurement of P(aCO2) and pH. It is suggested that hemoximetry is used in the detection and evaluation of shunts during diagnostic cardiac catheterization.
Topics: Blood Gas Analysis; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry; Oxygen; Practice Guidelines as Topic
PubMed: 23901131
DOI: 10.4187/respcare.02786 -
The Cochrane Database of Systematic... Mar 2018Health outcomes are improved when newborn babies with critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) are detected before acute cardiovascular collapse. The main screening... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Health outcomes are improved when newborn babies with critical congenital heart defects (CCHDs) are detected before acute cardiovascular collapse. The main screening tests used to identify these babies include prenatal ultrasonography and postnatal clinical examination; however, even though both of these methods are available, a significant proportion of babies are still missed. Routine pulse oximetry has been reported as an additional screening test that can potentially improve detection of CCHD.
OBJECTIVES
• To determine the diagnostic accuracy of pulse oximetry as a screening method for detection of CCHD in asymptomatic newborn infants• To assess potential sources of heterogeneity, including:○ characteristics of the population: inclusion or exclusion of antenatally detected congenital heart defects;○ timing of testing: < 24 hours versus ≥ 24 hours after birth;○ site of testing: right hand and foot (pre-ductal and post-ductal) versus foot only (post-ductal);○ oxygen saturation: functional versus fractional;○ study design: retrospective versus prospective design, consecutive versus non-consecutive series; and○ risk of bias for the "flow and timing" domain of QUADAS-2.
SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2017, Issue 2) in the Cochrane Library and the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Health Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj), up to March 2017. We searched the reference lists of all included articles and relevant systematic reviews to identify additional studies not found through the electronic search. We applied no language restrictions.
SELECTION CRITERIA
We selected studies that met predefined criteria for design, population, tests, and outcomes. We included cross-sectional and cohort studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of pulse oximetry screening for diagnosis of CCHD in term and late preterm asymptomatic newborn infants. We considered all protocols of pulse oximetry screening (eg, different saturation thresholds to define abnormality, post-ductal only or pre-ductal and post-ductal measurements, test timing less than or greater than 24 hours). Reference standards were diagnostic echocardiography (echocardiogram) and clinical follow-up, including postmortem findings, mortality, and congenital anomaly databases.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
We extracted accuracy data for the threshold used in primary studies. We explored between-study variability and correlation between indices visually through use of forest and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots. We assessed risk of bias in included studies using the QUADAS-2 tool. We used the bivariate model to calculate random-effects pooled sensitivity and specificity values. We investigated sources of heterogeneity using subgroup analyses and meta-regression.
MAIN RESULTS
Twenty-one studies met our inclusion criteria (N = 457,202 participants). Nineteen studies provided data for the primary analysis (oxygen saturation threshold < 95% or ≤ 95%; N = 436,758 participants). The overall sensitivity of pulse oximetry for detection of CCHD was 76.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] 69.5 to 82.0) (low certainty of the evidence). Specificity was 99.9% (95% CI 99.7 to 99.9), with a false-positive rate of 0.14% (95% CI 0.07 to 0.22) (high certainty of the evidence). Summary positive and negative likelihood ratios were 535.6 (95% CI 280.3 to 1023.4) and 0.24 (95% CI 0.18 to 0.31), respectively. These results showed that out of 10,000 apparently healthy late preterm or full-term newborn infants, six will have CCHD (median prevalence in our review). Screening by pulse oximetry will detect five of these infants as having CCHD and will miss one case. In addition, screening by pulse oximetry will falsely identify another 14 infants out of the 10,000 as having suspected CCHD when they do not have it.The false-positive rate for detection of CCHD was lower when newborn pulse oximetry was performed longer than 24 hours after birth than when it was performed within 24 hours (0.06%, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.13, vs 0.42%, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.89; P = 0.027).Forest and ROC plots showed greater variability in estimated sensitivity than specificity across studies. We explored heterogeneity by conducting subgroup analyses and meta-regression of inclusion or exclusion of antenatally detected congenital heart defects, timing of testing, and risk of bias for the "flow and timing" domain of QUADAS-2, and we did not find an explanation for the heterogeneity in sensitivity.
AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Pulse oximetry is a highly specific and moderately sensitive test for detection of CCHD with very low false-positive rates. Current evidence supports the introduction of routine screening for CCHD in asymptomatic newborns before discharge from the well-baby nursery.
Topics: Asymptomatic Diseases; Data Accuracy; False Positive Reactions; Heart Defects, Congenital; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Oximetry; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 29494750
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD011912.pub2 -
Respiratory Care Jun 2020Critical illness can threaten the adequacy of O delivery or CO excretion. Monitoring seeks to identify the adequacy of oxygenation and ventilation and to detect... (Review)
Review
Critical illness can threaten the adequacy of O delivery or CO excretion. Monitoring seeks to identify the adequacy of oxygenation and ventilation and to detect deterioration early. Advances in oximetry, capnography, and transcutaneous CO monitoring offer new opportunities for more accurate estimation of gas exchange, noninvasive monitoring of parameters previously not amenable (eg, total hemoglobin measurement), detection of disease, and prediction of fluid responsiveness.
Topics: Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous; Capnography; Critical Illness; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry
PubMed: 32457167
DOI: 10.4187/respcare.07408 -
BMC Medicine Aug 2022During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns regarding potential bias in pulse oximetry measurements for people with high levels of skin pigmentation. We... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been concerns regarding potential bias in pulse oximetry measurements for people with high levels of skin pigmentation. We systematically reviewed the effects of skin pigmentation on the accuracy of oxygen saturation measurement by pulse oximetry (SpO) compared with the gold standard SaO measured by CO-oximetry.
METHODS
We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, EBSCO CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov, and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (up to December 2021) for studies with SpO-SaO comparisons and measuring the impact of skin pigmentation or ethnicity on pulse oximetry accuracy. We performed meta-analyses for mean bias (the primary outcome in this review) and its standard deviations (SDs) across studies included for each subgroup of skin pigmentation and ethnicity and used these pooled mean biases and SDs to calculate accuracy root-mean-square (A) and 95% limits of agreement. The review was registered with the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/gm7ty ).
RESULTS
We included 32 studies (6505 participants): 15 measured skin pigmentation and 22 referred to ethnicity. Compared with standard SaO measurement, pulse oximetry probably overestimates oxygen saturation in people with the high level of skin pigmentation (pooled mean bias 1.11%; 95% confidence interval 0.29 to 1.93%) and people described as Black/African American (1.52%; 0.95 to 2.09%) (moderate- and low-certainty evidence). The bias of pulse oximetry measurements for people with other levels of skin pigmentation or those from other ethnic groups is either more uncertain or suggests no overestimation. Whilst the extent of mean bias is small or negligible for all subgroups evaluated, the associated imprecision is unacceptably large (pooled SDs > 1%). When the extent of measurement bias and precision is considered jointly, pulse oximetry measurements for all the subgroups appear acceptably accurate (with A < 4%).
CONCLUSIONS
Pulse oximetry may overestimate oxygen saturation in people with high levels of skin pigmentation and people whose ethnicity is reported as Black/African American, compared with SaO. The extent of overestimation may be small in hospital settings but unknown in community settings. REVIEW PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: https://osf.io/gm7ty.
Topics: COVID-19; Humans; Oximetry; Oxygen; Oxygen Saturation; Pandemics; Skin Pigmentation
PubMed: 35971142
DOI: 10.1186/s12916-022-02452-8 -
Journal of Clinical Monitoring and... Feb 2021From home to intensive care units, innovations in pulse oximetry are susceptible to improve the monitoring and management of patients developing acute respiratory...
From home to intensive care units, innovations in pulse oximetry are susceptible to improve the monitoring and management of patients developing acute respiratory failure, and particularly those with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). They include self-monitoring of oxygen saturation (SpO) from home, continuous wireless SpO monitoring on hospital wards, and the integration of SpO as the input variable for closed-loop oxygen administration systems. The analysis of the pulse oximetry waveform may help to quantify respiratory efforts and prevent intubation delays. Tracking changes in the peripheral perfusion index during a preload-modifying maneuver may be useful to predict preload responsiveness and rationalize fluid therapy.
Topics: COVID-19; Critical Care; Fluid Therapy; Home Care Services; Humans; Monitoring, Ambulatory; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry; Oxygen; Oxygen Inhalation Therapy; Pandemics; Respiratory Insufficiency; SARS-CoV-2; Work of Breathing
PubMed: 32578070
DOI: 10.1007/s10877-020-00550-7 -
Ugeskrift For Laeger Apr 2014
Topics: Hemoglobins; Humans; Oximetry; Oxyhemoglobins
PubMed: 25096464
DOI: No ID Found -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Aug 2020Adequate oxygen delivery to a tissue depends on sufficient oxygen content in arterial blood and blood flow to the tissue. Oximetry is a technique for the assessment of... (Review)
Review
Adequate oxygen delivery to a tissue depends on sufficient oxygen content in arterial blood and blood flow to the tissue. Oximetry is a technique for the assessment of blood oxygenation by measurements of light transmission through the blood, which is based on the different absorption spectra of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin. Oxygen saturation in arterial blood provides information on the adequacy of respiration and is routinely measured in clinical settings, utilizing pulse oximetry. Oxygen saturation, in venous blood (SvO) and in the entire blood in a tissue (StO), is related to the blood supply to the tissue, and several oximetric techniques have been developed for their assessment. SvO can be measured non-invasively in the fingers, making use of modified pulse oximetry, and in the retina, using the modified Beer-Lambert Law. StO is measured in peripheral muscle and cerebral tissue by means of various modes of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), utilizing the relative transparency of infrared light in muscle and cerebral tissue. The primary problem of oximetry is the discrimination between absorption by hemoglobin and scattering by tissue elements in the attenuation measurement, and the various techniques developed for isolating the absorption effect are presented in the current review, with their limitations.
Topics: Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry; Oxygen; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
PubMed: 32867184
DOI: 10.3390/s20174844 -
Respiratory Care Jun 2017Noninvasive monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation is an essential part of pediatric respiratory care. Carbon dioxide, gas exchange monitoring, transcutaneous... (Review)
Review
Noninvasive monitoring of oxygenation and ventilation is an essential part of pediatric respiratory care. Carbon dioxide, gas exchange monitoring, transcutaneous monitoring, near-infrared spectroscopy, pulse oximetry, and electrical impedance tomography are examined. Although some of these technologies have been utilized for decades, incorporation into mechanical ventilators and recently developed methods may provide important clinical insights in a broader patient range. Less mature technologies (electrical impedance tomography and near-infrared spectroscopy) have been of particular interest, since they offer easy bedside application and potential for improved care of children with respiratory failure and other disorders. This article provides an overview of the principles of operation, a survey of recent and relevant literature, and important technological limitations and future research directions.
Topics: Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous; Child; Electric Impedance; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Oximetry; Oxygen; Point-of-Care Testing; Respiratory Function Tests; Respiratory Insufficiency; Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; Tomography
PubMed: 28546376
DOI: 10.4187/respcare.05243