The quality of evidence is downgraded by study limitations (unclear allocation concealment and lack of blinding)
A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 5 studies with a total of 22 992 subjects. Two studies focused on subjects undergoing cardiac surgery and studied the effect of pulse oximetry monitoring in the cardiac ICU (35 patients) or cardiac recovery ward (1 219 patients). The other three studies included patients undergoing general surgery and were monitored from the operating room to the postanaesthesia care unit (21 738 patients). Hypoxaemia was reduced in the pulse oximetry group, both in the operating theatre and in the recovery room. During observation in the recovery room, the incidence of hypoxaemia in the pulse oximetry group was 1.5 to three times less. Postoperative cognitive function was independent of perioperative monitoring with pulse oximetry. A single study in general surgery showed that postoperative complications occurred in 10% of participants in the oximetry group and in 9.4% of those in the control group. No statistically significant differences in cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological or infectious complications were detected in the two groups. The duration of hospital stay was a median of five days in both groups, and equal numbers of in-hospital deaths were reported in the two groups.
Continuous pulse oximetry has the potential to increase vigilance and decrease pulmonary complications after cardiothoracic surgery; however, routine continuous monitoring did not reduce transfer to an ICU and did not decrease overall mortality.
Date of latest search: 2014-03-14
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