Comparison of forehead and digit oximetry in surgical/trauma patients at risk for decreased peripheral perfusion

Accuracy and precision of buccal pulse oximetry

“…Similar to others, 18,28,29 we noted that an oximeter located on 1 part of the body detected changing oxygen saturation earlier than an oximeter located on another part of the body. In general, pulse oximeter sensors placed on the forehead or earlobe detected changes in oxygen saturation earlier than sensors placed on fingers or toes.…”

Comparison of Finger and Forehead Oximetry Sensors in Postanesthesia Care Patients

“…18 Several clinical studies have compared the performance of the finger and forehead sensors in a variety of patient populations. [19][20][21][22][23] In studies evaluating device accuracy by comparing noninvasive sensor oxygen saturation values to arterial blood gas analysis, statistically significant differences were found between the accuracy of the finger and forehead sensors, with forehead sensors more accurate in patients with low cardiac index states (P , 0.005), 22 hypothermic body temperatures (P , 0.001), 20 and patients on vasopressor and/or large-volume transfusion therapy (P , 0.001). 23 Limited clinical studies have evaluated performance related to signal dropout rates.…”

“…[19][20][21][22][23] In studies evaluating device accuracy by comparing noninvasive sensor oxygen saturation values to arterial blood gas analysis, statistically significant differences were found between the accuracy of the finger and forehead sensors, with forehead sensors more accurate in patients with low cardiac index states (P , 0.005), 22 hypothermic body temperatures (P , 0.001), 20 and patients on vasopressor and/or large-volume transfusion therapy (P , 0.001). 23 Limited clinical studies have evaluated performance related to signal dropout rates. [20][21][22] All of these studies found fewer episodes of signal dropout in the forehead sensor compared with the finger sensor in small numbers of critically ill patients 20,22 and during field transport of hypothermic patients to the emergency department.…”

Pulse Oximetry Using a Disposable Finger Sensor Placed on the Forehead in Hypoxic Patients

“…However, this bias was larger than the 1% bias between the forehead and finger disposable probes. We suspect that this difference is probably due to manufacturer differences, although there are few studies that evaluated this (22,23).…”