Ventilation-Induced Modulation of Pulse Oximeter Waveforms: A Method for the Assessment of Early Changes in...

Scoliosis surgery is often associated with substantial blood loss, requiring fluid resuscitation and blood transfusions. In adults, dynamic preload indices have been shown to be more reliable for guiding fluid resuscitation, but these indices have not been useful in children undergoing surgery. The aim of this study was to introduce frequency-analyzed photoplethysmogram (PPG) and arterial pressure waveform variables and to study the ability of these parameters to detect early bleeding in children during surgery.

We studied 20 children undergoing spinal fusion. Electrocardiogram, arterial pressure, finger pulse oximetry (finger PPG), and airway pressure waveforms were analyzed using time domain and frequency domain methods of analysis. Frequency domain analysis consisted of calculating the amplitude density of PPG and arterial pressure waveforms at the respiratory and cardiac frequencies using Fourier analysis. This generated 2 measurements: The first is related to slow mean arterial pressure modulation induced by ventilation (also known as DC modulation when referring to the PPG), and the second corresponds to pulse pressure modulation (AC modulation or changes in the amplitude of pulse oximeter plethysmograph when referring to the PPG). Both PPG and arterial pressure measurements were divided by their respective cardiac pulse amplitude to generate DC% and AC% (normalized values). Standard hemodynamic data were also recorded. Data at baseline and after bleeding (estimated blood loss about 9% of blood volume) were presented as median and interquartile range and compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests; a Bonferroni-corrected P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

There were significant increases in PPG DC% (median [interquartile range] = 359% [210 to 541], P = 0.002), PPG AC% (160% [87 to 251], P = 0.003), and arterial DC% (44% [19 to 84], P = 0.012) modulations, respectively, whereas arterial AC% modulations showed nonsignificant increase (41% [1 to 85], P = 0.12). The change in PPG DC% was significantly higher than that in PPG AC%, arterial DC%, arterial AC%, and systolic blood pressure with P values of 0.008, 0.002, 0.003, and 0.002, respectively. Only systolic blood pressure showed significant changes (11% [4 to 21], P = 0.003) between bleeding phase and baseline.

Finger PPG and arterial waveform parameters (using frequency analysis) can track changes in blood volume during the bleeding phase, suggesting the potential for a noninvasive monitor for tracking changes in blood volume in pediatric patients. PPG waveform baseline modulation (PPG DC%) was more sensitive to changes in venous blood volume when compared with respiration-induced modulation seen in the arterial pressure waveform.