Postoperative monitoring in critical care patients has become a widening field over the past few decades. Improvements in outcome can be related to advances in this field as well as in intraoperative management and preoperative assessment.

The use of transcutaneous equipment is an essential element in the daily monitoring of neonates. To ensure reliable results and as little discomfort to neonates as possible, new staff members must be trained thoroughly. Nurse Åse Hansen, from the Copenhagen County Hosital, runs through the basic elements of staff...

Measurement of transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcpO₂) has gained worldwide acceptance as a simple and effective method of evaluating cutaneous blood flow in settings where skin viability and the adequacy of skin blood flow are of major concern. An example of such a setting is the non-invasive vascular laboratory at...

Application of wound healing management algorithms in hyperbaric oxygen therapy improve clinical outcomes and, at the same time, markedly reduce expenditures.

Assessment of tcpO₂ before and during hyperbaric oxygen treatment predicts the chance for a successful outcome.

Transcutaneous monitoring of carbon dioxide plays an important role during short-term and long-term treatments for ventilatory failure. Progress during short-term treatments can be judged through tcpCO₂ recordings - especially to avoid crash reintubation of patients who have been weaned off invasive ventilation....

Transcutaneous oxygen measurements play an important role in the evaluation and management of problem wounds. No precise threshold or target values exist for the prediction of outcome, and it is quite possible that each wound will have highly individualized oxygen dose requirements. Correction of ambient dermal oxygen ...

This lab study shows that transcutaneous values can closely follow changes in arterial blood gas by using an electrode temperature of 45 °C to monitor exercise with gradual workload.