Assessment of arterial blood oxygenation in various states of acute respiratory failure.

The study contains an analysis of the clinical course of 48 patients with acute respiratory failure. The degree of arterial hypoxaemia and respiratory failure were correlated with the value of true pulmonary shunt of non-oxygenated blood. Measurements of the shunt were carried out serially during treatment and it was calculated from the shunt equation of Berggren. It was found that the pulmonary shunt is a good index of arterial blood oxygenation in cases of acute respiratory failure. The value of 47% of shunt was accepted as that with is incompatible with survival. It was demonstrated that determinations of pulmonary shunt are superior to A-aP02 measurements in assessment of the ventilatory function of the lungs.