Oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production following open heart surgery

The VO2, VCO2 and RQ were measured in 24 patients after open heart surgery using a CO2 analyzer and O2 Consumption Calculator (Siemen Elma, Sweden). With prolonged ventilatory care, shivering was noticed in only one patient and VO2, VCO2 and RQ were rather stable and constant in patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). With dopamine infusion the 3-5 kg body wt/min cardiovascular status was stable and the oxygen extraction ratio was a mean of 0.264. From those data we suggest that ventilatory support would be desirable for about 2 days for those patients in the post-operative period.