End-tidal oximetry - at its infancy of utility in critical care

Ventilation monitoring if commonly accomplished with pulse oximetry or end-tidal CO2 detection. Interestingly, end-tidal oximetry has been show to change more rapidly in response to hypo- or hyper-ventilation than either of the above parameters. More importantly, in the presence of profound hypoventilation, clinically important decline in pulse oximetry may occur minutes following its onset.

While end-tidal oximetry remains in its infancy, there is promising research that offers targeted areas for use (and future research):

• ventilation changes - such as procedural sedation/monitored anesthesia care (MAC)

• pre-oxygenation during rapid sequence induction and intubation (RSI)

• pulmonary embolism

For more information, visit GE Healthcare Clinical View for a recently prepared white paper on this topic