Comparison of the gas quantities in the blood of patients with nasal packing for epistaxis, after nasal surgery and experimentally.

The authors examined blood pO2 and pCO2 in patients whose noses had been tamponaded because of epistaxis, nasal surgery and in animals whose noses had been artificially obstructed. A marked fall of pO2 and an increase of pCO2 were found as well as certain differences of the gas quantities between the first and second groups of patients. For this phenomenon an explanation is given.