JOURNAL HOME CME HOME THIS MONTH PAST ISSUES ETOC COLLECTIONS AUTHORS REVIEWERS EDITORIAL BOARD FEEDBACK RSS HELP
		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kober, A. Articles by Hoerauf, K. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kober, A. Articles by Hoerauf, K.

---

CRITICAL CARE AND TRAUMA

Capnography in Non-Tracheally Intubated Emergency Patients as an Additional Tool in Pulse Oximetry for Prehospital Monitoring of Respiration

Alexander Kober, MD^*,, Barbara Schubert, BS^*, Petra Bertalanffy, MD^*,, Laszlo Gorove, MD, Tivadar Puskas, MD, Burkhard Gustorff, MD, Alma Joldzo, BS, and Klaus Hoerauf, MD, PhD Section Editor

*Vienna Red Cross, Van Swieten and the Research Institute of the Vienna Red Cross, Vienna, Austria; Hungarian National Emergency Service, Hungary; and the Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, University Hospital of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Klaus Hoerauf, Department of Anesthesiology and General Intensive Care, University Hospital of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18–20, A-1090 Vienna, Austria, Europe. Address email to klaus.hoerauf{at}univie.ac.at

Victims of minor trauma transported by paramedic-based rescue systems are usually monitored with pulse oximetry. Under the difficult surroundings of prehospital trauma care, pulse oximeters show considerable periods of malfunction. We tested the hypothesis that capnography is a good, easy to use tool for monitoring in nonintubated trauma victims. Seventy nonintubated trauma victims were included in this study. Vital variables and number and time of malfunctions were sampled for oximeter and capnometer recordings. Total number of alerts (63 versus 10), number of alerts per patient (3.3 [1.9] versus 0.3 [0.9]) (mean [SD]), total time of malfunction (191.5 [216.7] s versus 11.8 [40.2] s), time of malfunction per alarm (58.3 [71.4] s versus 5.5 [14.6] s), and the percentage of malfunction time during transport (13.2% [15.3%] versus 0.8% [2.8%]) differed significantly (P < 0.01) between oximetry and capnography. Although pulse oximetry is a standard method of monitoring in emergency care, we found capnography to be helpful as a monitoring device. We consequently recommend the use of capnography on transport as an additional monitoring tool to reduce periods lacking supervision of the vital variables.

IMPLICATIONS: Capnography is a useful tool to improve respiratory monitoring in nonintubated trauma victims on emergency transport and an easy to use supplement to pulse oximetry.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. R. Lightdale, D. A. Goldmann, H. A. Feldman, A. R. Newburg, J. A. DiNardo, and V. L. Fox Microstream Capnography Improves Patient Monitoring During Moderate Sedation: A Randomized, Controlled Trial Pediatrics, June 1, 2006; 117(6): e1170 - e1178. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Hulme Monitoring the injured patient Trauma, April 1, 2006; 8(2): 85 - 93. [Abstract] [PDF]

				Is Capnography Worthwhile in Nonintubated Patients? Journal Watch Emergency Medicine, March 31, 2004; 2004(331): 9 - 9. [Full Text]

Anesthesia & Analgesia® is published for the International Anesthesia Research Society® by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins with the assistance of Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press®. Copyright 2006 by the International Anesthesia Research Society. Online ISSN: 1526-7598   Print ISSN: 0003-2999