Clinical assessment of a flow-through fluorometric blood gas monitor

We performed an observational study to evaluate a flow-through fluorometric instrument (Gas-STAT) that continuously measures the carbon dioxide tension (PCO2), oxygen tension (PO2), and pH of blood in the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit. Setup and calibration of the instrument typically required 20 minutes. During bypass, 129 blood samples were drawn from 16 patients for comparison with conventional measurements obtained with a blood gas machine. Data for each variable, within each sensor, were analyzed by linear regression. The ranges of the standard errors of the estimate were 0.7 to 4.2 mm Hg for PCO2, 18.3 to 78.7 mm Hg for the high PO2 range, 1.4 to 7.1 mm Hg for the low PO2 range, and 0.008 to 0.049 for pH. The regression lines differed from the identity line (P less than 0.05) in at least one variable in most patients, and large deviations from the line of identity in both slope and intercept were common. Among 58 sensors evaluated, failures occurred in 5 (2.9%) of the 174 optodes, and minor leakage occurred in 2 (3.4%) of the flow-through cells. We conclude that although this flow-through fluorometric instrument is an adequate monitor of trends in blood gases during cardiopulmonary bypass, it is not accurate enough to supplant conventional laboratory measurements.