[Pertinence of simultaneous measurements of pO2 and sO2 on ABL 510]

Blood tonometry is the only method to assess the accuracy of the pO2 determination on blood gas analyzers. ABL instruments by Radiometer were tested by two types of tonometry (film and bubble tonometry) and the validity of the algorithm for pO2 correction was analysed with these results. The role of the presentation of the specimen is also discussed. For the precision study on the ABL 510 analyzer, coefficients of variation for pO2 were < 0.37% and < 1.7% for within-run and day-to-day series respectively. pO2 accuracy was excellent. Linearity was verified between 0-620 mmHg (82.5 kPa), and interinstrument comparisons demonstrated a strict correlation with the Ciba-Corning 178 instrument. ABL 510 measures simultaneously oxygen saturation by spectrophotometry. Analytical results showed an acceptable level of imprecision, but the definition and the clinical significance of this parameter are ambiguous.