BACKGROUND Desaturation occurs for many reasons under anaesthesia, some rare and obscure, and many potentially life threatening. The rapidity with which the cause is determined and appropriate management is instituted varies considerably between anaesthetists. OBJECTIVES To examine the role of a previously described "core" algorithm COVER ABCD-A SWIFT CHECK, supplemented by a specific sub-alg...

Toraldo and colleagues (December 2005)1 are to be congratulated on their endeavor to identify daytime variables that are predictive of nocturnal desaturation in COPD patients, a field in which many attempts have failed. However, we think that some points are worth addressing. First, despite the plethora of data presented by Toraldo et al,1 it does not greatly contribute to the evidence base of ...

OBJECTIVE To identify the predictive factors of oxygen desaturation during the six-minute walk test (6MWT) in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHODS Prospective cross-sectional study involving clinically stable patients with CF aged > or = 10 years. The patients were submitted to nutritional evaluations, oral glucose tolerance tests, pulmonary function tests, chest X-rays and 6MWTs. RE...

The incidence of oxygen desaturation (less than 91%) was measured by pulse oximetry during recovery from outpatient dental anaesthesia in 120 ASA grade I and II children. Alternate cases were given supplementary oxygen 5 litre min-1 by mask. Eighteen of 60 children (30%) given air and 14 of 60 (23%) given oxygen exhibited desaturation (P greater than 0.05). Desaturation was more likely to occur...

BACKGROUND Routine monitoring of postoperative patients with pulse oximetry-based surveillance monitoring has been shown to reduce adverse events. However, there is some concern that pulse oximetry is limited in its ability to detect deterioration quickly enough to allow for intervention in patients receiving supplemental oxygen. To address such concerns, this study expands on the current limit...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Desaturation during swallowing may help to identify aspiration in stroke patients. This study investigated pulse oximetry, bedside swallowing assessment (BSA), and videofluoroscopy as tests for detecting aspiration after stroke. METHODS Swallowing was assessed in 189 stroke patients (mean+/-SD age, 70.9+/-12.3 years) within 5 days of symptom onset with a modified BSA (w...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Neonates and infants are prone to oxygen desaturation during the induction of general anaesthesia. Pharyngeal oxygen insufflation has been shown to delay the onset of desaturation and hypoxaemia during apnoea. We tested the hypothesis that deep laryngeal oxygenation with Oxiport® Miller blade would delay the onset of desaturation compared to laryngoscopy without supplemental...

PURPOSE A recent study demonstrated that exertional desaturation is a predictor of rapid decline in lung function in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); however, the study was limited by its method used to detect exertional desaturation. The main purpose of this study was to explore whether exertional desaturation assessed using nadir oxygen saturation (SpO₂) during the ...