[Continuous non-invasive monitoring in respiratory resuscitation].

Non-invasive methods of monitoring have two principal objectives: --the detection of vital problems requiring immediate treatment : reflex monitoring or type I; --continuous surveillance, as sophisticated as possible, of a large number of parameters which help to predict the outcome either spontaneously or as a result of treatment. These two objectives are reached in different ways according to whether the patients are or are not artificially ventilated. At present it seems that the best compromise between cost, ease of operation, reproducibility and non-invasiveness are obtained by the following techniques: --type I Monitoring (reflex) in patients artificially ventilated : pressure or spirometric alarm; if spontaneously breathing : electrical impedance or simple E.C.G.; --type II Monitoring (or reflection) in patients on ventilators : study of expired CO2, careful analysis of pressure curves, compliance; for those breathing spontaneously : PO2 and PCO2 picked up transcutaneously and possibly impedance of the lungs separately.