Continuous pO2 and pCO2 measurement in brain tissue and cerebrovenous blood during different inspired oxygen settings. A porcine model.

The clinical use of brain tissue oxygen measurement in patients with severe head injury is increasing. It is important to compare the findings in brain tissue with jugular bulb oximetry, to obtain normal values and to find out limitations of the method. We evaluated a newly available multisensor probe simultaneously in the brain tissue and in the sagittal sinus in a porcine animal model. We placed the Paratrend 7-probe (BSL, High Wycombe, UK) in the left frontoparietal white matter and measured pO2 (ptiO2), pCO2 (pti CO2), pH and temperature while simultaneously measuring these parameters (pcvO2, pcvCO2) in the sagittal sinus in 7 pigs under general anaesthesia during a 100% oxygen enhancement. The relation between oxygen increase in brain tissue and in the sagittal sinus showed a coefficient of correlation (CCmean) r(mean) = 0.96. The quantitative response in brain tissue was much more sensitive than in the sinus. A close correlation between pCO2 in brain tissue and sagittal sinus and the increase of the inspired oxygen was seen: CC ptiCO2 to arterial oxygen pressure (paO2) - r(mean) = 0.67, CC pcvCO2 to paO2 - r(mean) = 0.88. This is important for interpreting measured values and introducing new coefficients for patient monitoring. Newly available continuous brain oxygen measurement methods will allow better understanding of brain metabolism in the future.