Roche v-TAC

The new alternative to arterial sampling for blood gas measurement

Arterial blood gas is the gold standard for acid-base and blood gas testing in critical care. However, arterial punctures are complex, painful for the patient and come with a risk of side effects such as haematoma and infections.^1,2

Over the recent years there has been an increasing trend towards the use of venous blood, as it is more easily accessible and sample collection is less painful for the patient.³ While clinical parameters for acid-base measurements (pH, pCO₂ and bicarbonate) are largely similar between arterial and venous sampling, the venous measurement of oxygenation (pO₂, sO₂) is significantly different and therefore limits its use.⁴

Roche v-TAC software helps to overcome these limitations.

Arterial blood gas values from a venous blood sample

Roche v-TAC software calculates arterial blood gas (ABG) values from venous peripheral blood gas measurement, combined with arterial oxygen saturation (SpO₂), measured by a pulse oximeter.

The precision of the v-TAC calculated values is comparable to that of repeated ABG values for blood gas parameters, including pH, pCO₂, pO₂ (up to 10 kPa), HCO₃ and base excess (BE).⁵