This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Melillo, E. Articles by Pedrinelli, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Melillo, E. Articles by Pedrinelli, R. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Transcutaneous Oxygen Tension Measurement in Patients with Chronic Arterial Obstructive Disease: Reliability and Long-Term variability of the Method

Divisione di Medicina Interna, USL 12, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy

Giosue' Catapano

nd Clinica Medica, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy

Mauro Ferrari, M.D.

Istituto di Chirurgia Generale e Sperimentale, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy

Roberto Pedrinelli, M.D., F.A.C.A.

nd Clinica Medica, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy

Although transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcpO₂) measurement may be useful for assessing changes in regional perfusion induced over time by drug or surgical treatment in patients with chronic arterial obstructive disease (CAOD), the reliability of the method over a long-term period is not know To approach this problem, the authors evaluated retrospectively the behavior of TcpO₂ measurement over time in patients with CAOD. To eliminate confounding influences due to the concomitant vascular disease at the limb level, data analysis was performed on TcpO₂ measured at the right infraclavicular position. The median length of follow-up ranged from twenty days in 34 patients to 832 days in 3 patients (n=2 and n=10 individual sequential replications respectively).

Initial and final TcpO ₂ values did not differ significantly even at the longest follow-up term, which indicates that the parameter is constant over time. The intrapatient variation coefficient of TcpO₂ (calculated over at least three individual replications) ranged between an average of 11% to 16.2%. The corresponding interpatient variation fluctuated between 15.5% and 33.4%, a variability explained to some extent by sex-related influ ences, but, at least in the range of this sample, not by age, arterial oxygen levels, or disease status. Thus TcpO₂ levels per se are stable, implying that TcpO₂ measurement has the potential to record consistent changes caused by specific therapeutic interventions or the clinical evolution of patients with CAOD. However, the intrapatient and interpa tient variability of the method has to be taken into account when TcpO₂ is used for the follow-up and the physiopathologic study of patients with CAOD.

Angiology, Vol. 45, No. 6, 469-475 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/000331979404500609


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?