A study of partial pressure of arterial carbon dioxide and end-tidal carbon dioxide correlation in intraoperative and postoperative period in neurosurgical patients.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Monitoring carbon dioxide (CO2) is of utmost importance in neurosurgical patients. It is measured by partial pressure of arterial CO2 (PaCO2) and end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2). We aimed to study the correlation between PaCO2 and ETCO2 in neurosurgical patients in the intraoperative and postoperative period on mechanical ventilation in Postanesthesia Care Unit (PACU).

METHODOLOGY: This was prospective observational study done at tertiary care teaching public hospital over a period of 1 year. We studied 30 patients undergoing elective craniotomy intraoperatively and in the postoperative period on mechanical ventilation for 24 h. Serial measurement of ETCO2 and PaCO2 at baseline, hourly intraoperatively and every 6 hourly in the PACU were studied. Data analysis was done using SPSS software version 20.

RESULTS: The mean PaCO2-ETCO2 gradient intraoperatively over 4 h is 3.331 ± 2.856 and postoperatively over 24 h is 2.779 ± 2.932 and lies in 95% confidence interval. There was statistically significant correlation between PaCO2 and ETCO2 intraoperatively baseline, 1 h, 2 h, 3 h, and 4 h with Pearson's correlation coefficients of 0.799, 0.522, 0582, 0.439, and 0.547, respectively (P < 0.05). In PACU at baseline, 6 h, 12 h, 18 h, and 24 h Pearson's correlation coefficients were. 534, -0.032, 0.522, 0.242, 0.592, and 0.547, respectively, which are highly significant at three instances (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION: ETCO2 correlates PaCO2 with acceptable accuracy in neurosurgical patients in the intraoperative and postoperative period on mechanical ventilation in Intensive Care Unit. Thus, continuous and noninvasive ETCO2 can be used as a reliable guide to estimate arterial PCO2 during neurosurgical procedures and in PACU.