Monitoring of tissue-pO2 for invasive diagnostics in angiology and vascular surgery.

Hypoxic and ischemic states are the main problem makers in angiology and vascular surgery. It is therefore suggestive to employ the technique of tissue-pO2 measurement for the verification and support of diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Two forms of registration are possible: continuous monitoring of partial oxygen pressures in eight different places and registration in the form of pO2-histograms, which represents a kind of "representative opinion poll" held in the tissue. The effects of a surgical intervention (endarterectomy, bypass operation) and the efficacy of blood flow-promoting drugs were studied in several series. In 9 patients the effect of the blood flow-promoting agent pentoxifylline (3,7-dimethyl-1-(5-oxohexyl)-xanthine) was studied. The pO2-histograms exhibited a shift to the right by an average of 7 mmHg after administration of this drug. Moreover, findings obtained with sodium nitroprusside and nitroglycerin during induced hypotension indicate that the continuous measuring of tissue-pO2 and recording of oxygen pressure distribution curves (pO2-histogram) provide the clinician with essential guidance data for the improvement of diagnostics and therapeutic control.