Arterial and Capillary Blood Oxygen Tensions

Samples of arterial and capillary blood were obtained simultaneously and the oxygen tension of each was measured.The correlation between arterial blood and capillary blood oxygen tension was' reasonably good except in patients with disturbed' circulation.Because of these discrepancies and the simplicity of arterial blood sampling it is recommended that measurement of arterial blood oxygen tension is the method of choice.The decline of oxygen' tension of arterial blood contained in plastic syringes at room temperature was assessed.The results indicated that for routine clinical practice blood may be stored in plastic syringes at room temperature for periods up to one houf after sampling.A method of arterial puncture is described.