USING VENOUS BLOOD GAS ANALYSIS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COPD EXACERBATIONS; A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Abstract

COPD exacerbations are a common cause of emergency hospital admission in the UK, with an estimated 94,000 per year. Identifying hypercapnic respiratory failure is crucial. Guidelines recommend obtaining arterial blood samples but these are more difficult to obtain than venous samples. Furthermore, administration of local anaesthetic prior to arterial sampling is seldom used. We assessed whether blood gas values derived from venous samples could replace arterial at initial assessment. Patients treated for a COPD exacerbation had paired arterial and venous samples taken. Bland Altman analyses were performed to assess agreement between arterial and venous pH, PCO2 and HCO3 -, and between SpO2 a..