Utility of Mathematically Converted Venous to Arterial Blood Gas for Clinical Monitoring

Arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis is essential in assessment of respiratory and metabolic status in acutely ill patients. In comparison to peripheral venous blood (PVG) sampling, the ABG sampling procedure is more painful for the patient and technically more challenging for the clinician to perform. Other drawbacks of ABG sampling include adverse events such as subcutaneous hematoma, arterial thrombosis or embolization, and pseudoaneurysms.

Peripheral venous blood gas (VBG) sampling has been suggested as an alternative to the ABG procedure. This procedure causes less patient discomfort and the sample can be analysed in combination with other venous blood tests. Studies have revealed that pH and bicarbonate have good correlation, whereas venous and arterial blood gasses (pO2 and pCO2) show low agreement.

However, a new method has been developed to calculate ABG values mathematically from peripheral venous blood by use of venous to arterial conversion (v-TAC) software (Obimedical, Denmark), supplemented with oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry. The principle of the method is a mathematical transformation of VBG values to arterialized values (aVBG) by simulating the transport of blood back through the tissue. Initial testing of the method in an emergency department setting showed acceptable clinical congruence between arterial and mathematically arterialized pH and pCO2 with a small difference (+/- SD) on 0.001 +/- 0.024 and 0.00 0.46 kPa, respectively. However, inaccurate values of pO2 were seen when oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry was above 96%, due to the flat shape of the oxygen dissociation curve (ODC).

Although most patients in the ICU have arterial catheters therefrom ABG can be drawn, applying arterial catheter is difficult or even impossible in some patients. In relation to step-down some patients get arterial catheters removed and in the event of deterioration in patients acid-base or respiratory disease aVBG could prove useful as a minimally invasive tool to assess patients status.

The aim of this study is to investigate if v-TAC is reliable and safe to use in patients with critically respiratory or metabolic disease admitted to the ICU.