Evaluation of two oximeters for use in cardiac catheterization laboratories

We evaluated two whole-blood oximeters designed for use in the cardiac catheterization laboratory: the Oxicom 3000 and the AVOXimeter 1000. Unlike the larger CO-Oximeters, which hemolyze a blood sample before analysis, these simple instruments use disposable cuvettes to allow determination of oxyhemoglobin saturation of whole blood. Thus they eliminate the need for cleaning solutions and considerable maintenance. We evaluated the accuracy of these instruments in comparison with a Radiometer OSM3 and found them both to work well on routine samples. Of note, the AVOXimeter performed better than the Oxicom when the sample was hemolyzed and when green dye was present. In addition, the AVOXimeter measures the total hemoglobin concentration and the oxygen content of each sample, eliminating errors that hemodilution introduces into the determination of cardiac output by the Fick principle. We conclude that whole-blood oximeters are accurate and useful instruments for use in the cardiac catheterization laboratory.