Scott E Rudkin, Christopher A Kahn, Jennifer A Oman, Matthew O Dolich, Shahram Lotfipour, Stephanie Lush, Marla Gain, Charmaine Firme, Craig L Anderson, Mark I Langdorf
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to assess if venous blood gas (VBG) results (pH and base excess [BE]) are numerically similar to arterial blood gas (ABG) in acutely ill trauma patients. METHODS: We prospectively correlated paired ABG and VBG results (pH and BE) in adult trauma patients when ABG was clinically indicated. A priori consensus threshold of clinical equivalence was set at ± less than 0.05 pH units and ± less than 2 BE units. We hypothesized that ABG results could be predicted by VBG results using a regression equation, derived from 173 patients, and validated on 173 separate patients...
October 2012: American Journal of Emergency Medicine