Association of the Arteriovenous Difference in Carbon Dioxide and Its Relation to the Difference in Arteriovenous Oxygen Content With the Occurrence of Postoperative Complication

Intra-operative hemodynamic management in high-risk surgery is a priority for the anesthesiologist. The current strategy is based on the continuous measurement of cardiac output and its maximization by vascular filling has many limitations: invasiveness, measurement difficulties, impaired performance, imperative surgical restriction of filling, lack of evaluation of flow rate and metabolic needs. Biomarkers may be able to detect early an inadequacy between cardiac output and tissue oxygen requirements, venous saturation with oxygen (ScvO2) and arteriovenous difference in partial pressure of carbon dioxide (ΔPCO2) as well as the appearance of cellular hypoxia (lactate and arteriovenous difference in partial pressure of carbon dioxide/arteriovenous difference in oxygen) (ΔPCO2) / DAVO2). Moreover, the medical literature remains poor on the evaluation of these markers in per-operative context all the more for ΔPCO2 and ΔPCO2 / DAVO2. It seems interesting to evaluate the potential of these tools, in patients with major surgery and at high risk (major hepatectomy, oesophagectomy and duodeno-pancreatectomy), to predict the risk of postoperative complications, especially since surgery involves a restrictive vascular filling strategy that may be potentially deleterious to the patient.