Blood gas analysis is essential for diagnosing and managing respiratory and metabolic disorders.¹ Traditional arterial sampling is painful, requires trained personnel, and has low first-draw success rates, which complicates workflows and increases risks.^2,3 Venous blood sampling is easier, but can venous blood gasses (VBG) provide reliable clinical evaluation similar to arterial blood gasses (ABG)? If not, is there a better way to obtain ABG values?

In this webinar, Prof. Rees, an expert in respiratory and critical care technology at Aalborg University, explains the limitations of VBG. These relate to the poor correlation of ABG and VBG values,¹ with the relationship between ABG and VBG varying substantially even in the same patient at different time points.⁴ Prof. Rees then introduces the venous-to-arterial blood gas conversion (v-TAC) method, which uses VBG and pulse oximetry data to calculate ABG values, eliminating the need for painful arterial sampling. This is possible as the v-TAC method accounts for differences in the aerobic metabolism at the tissues, allowing for calculation of arterial values under different conditions in the same patient.

Over the years, Prof. Rees and other researchers have conducted extensive studies on v-TAC across various clinical settings, now summarized in a meta-analysis. The results show that v-TAC can accurately calculate VBG from venous blood, with minimal bias, acceptable limits of agreement, and no difference in these across clinical groups.⁵ Therefore, it can potentially be used for screening in emergency medicine, monitoring chronic respiratory diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and tracking ABG values in critical care patients without the need for arterial catheters, ultimately improving patient care.

We hope you enjoy this webinar!