Respiratory monitoring of nonintubated patients in nonoperating room settings: old and new technologies.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Postoperative mortality in the 30 days after surgery remains disturbingly high. Inadequate, intermittent and incomplete monitoring of vital signs in the nonoperating room environment is common practice. The rise of nonoperating room anaesthesia and sedation outside the operating room has highlighted the need to develop new and robust methods of portable continuous respiratory monitoring. This review provides a summary of old and new technologies in this environment.

RECENT FINDINGS

Technical advances have made possible the utilization of established monitoring to extrapolate respiratory rate, the increased availability and user friendliness of side stream capnography and the advent of other innovative systems. The use of aggregate signals wherein different modalities compensate for individual shortcomings seem to provide a reliable and artefact-free system.

SUMMARY

Respiratory monitoring is required in several situations and patient categories outside the operating room. The chosen modality must be able to detect respiratory compromise in a timely and accurate manner. Combing several modalities in a nonobtrusive, nontethered system and having an integrated output seems to give a reliable and responsive signal.