Transcutaneous Monitoring to Avoid Hypercapnea During Complex Catheter Ablations: a Joint Quality Initiative Pilot From Cardiac Electrophysiology and Anesthesiology

Cardiac electrophysiology procedures are typically performed under moderate (conscious) sedation in most centers. Advantages over general anesthesia include facilitating arrhythmia induction, avoidance of intubation and ventilator related complications and shorter post-procedure recovery times for most patients. However, the cumulative respiratory depressant effects of fentanyl and midazolam during prolonged procedures can rarely cause hypoventilation resulting in hypercapnea and respiratory failure. Complex catheter ablations for atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia can exceed 3-5 hours in duration requiring large cumulative doses of midazolam and fentanyl. End tidal CO2 monitors, particularly in non-ventilated patients, have limitations and obtaining frequent arterial blood gas samples are often impractical. It remains unknown if contemporary trancutaneous CO2 monitoring (TCO2)can provide a feasible alternative to avoid over-sedation and resultant respiratory complications during complex catheter ablations with sufficient agreement to invasively obtained PCO2 data.