Transcutaneous oximetry: normal values for the lower limb

Consistent with the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines, we the above authors are initiating the retraction of our paper: Blake DF, Young DA, Brown LH: Transcutaneous oximetry: normal values for the lower limb. Diving Hyperb Med. 2014 September;44(3):146-153. We wish to make the following statement: "The authors voluntarily retract this article after discovering a critical error associated with the instrumentation used in the study, namely the fitting of incorrect sensor membranes on the electrodes of the transcutaneous oximetry device used in the study. This resulted in transcutaneous oxygen tension (PtcO₂) measurements that were consistently lower than those that would be recorded with the correct electrode membranes in place, which we recently confirmed by comparing the two membrane types once we discovered the error. We are in the process of replicating our work using the correct PtcO₂ specific membranes."