Are arterial blood gases necessary in the evaluation of acutely dyspneic patients.docVIP

Junker and Gutierrez Critical Care 2011,15:176 /content/15/4/176 COMMENTARY Are arterial blood gases necessary in the evaluation of acutely dyspneic patients? Christopher Junker * and Guillermo Gutierrez 1 2 See related research by Burri et al., /content/15/3/R145 We agree with Burri and colleagues in that PaO2 values serve mainly to triage and to guide treatment, rather than to di? erentiate among the causes of dyspnea. Except for anxiety hyperventilation, it is di? cult to rely solely on Abstract Arterial