Continuous pulse oximetry in the general surgical ward: Nellcor N‐200 versus Nellcor N‐3000

Abstract

SummaryNew measurement principles in pulse oximetry have been introduced to decrease the incidence of false movement alarms. Experimental studies have shown that the new Nellcor Symphony N-3000 may reduce the incidence of false alarms when monitoring during different activities. We compared the Nellcor Symphony N-3000 with the Nellcor N-200 pulse oximeter, when monitoring patients in the general surgical ward. Twenty-two patients were monitored during unrestricted ward activities for a total of 275 h with a N-3000 and a N-200 pulse oximeter simultaneously. Data were analysed for lack of concordance between the two pulse oximeters with respect to frequency of registered hypoxaemic episodes and thus the amount of time spent in the alarm state.

Relationship between nocturnal hypoxaemia, tachycardia and myocardial ischaemia after major abdominal surgery

“…9 10 More recently developed oximeters are designed to be less susceptible to movement artefact. 9 In postoperative patients, Stausholm and colleagues 11 compared the Nellcor 200 pulse oximeter with a transcutaneous oxygen tension monitor, which was not sensitive to motion artefact. They found that an episode of desaturation more than=equal to 5% from baseline that lasted for over 30 s was a 'true' desaturation in at least 78% of the cases.…”