Oxygen Tension of Tissues by the Polarographic Method

Normal individuals breathing pure oxygen obtain full saturation of their hemoglobin, whereas those with right to left shunts do not. Oxygen hemoglobin dissociation curves indicate that increases to full oxygen saturation of hemoglobin are accompanied by marked increases of the oxygen tension. When breathing oxygen fails to produce full saturation, relatively little change in oxygen tension occurs. When the cutaneous circulation is rapid, changes in skin oxygen tension have been shown to vary directly with changes in blood oxygen tension. Taking advantage of these facts the authors have described a method of detecting significant right to left shunts by polarographic measurements of skin oxygen tension.