Is Venous to Arterial Conversion (v-TAC) of Blood Gas Reliable in Critical Ill Patients in the ICU?

Objective: Arterial blood gas (ABG) is essential in the clinical assessment of potential acutely ill patients venous to arterial conversion (v-TAC), a mathematical method, has recently been developed to convert peripheral venous blood gas (VBG) values to arterialized VBG (aVBG) values. The aim of this study is to test the reliability of aVBG compared to ABG in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting. Method: Consecutive patients admitted to the ICU with pH values \7,45 are included in this study. Paired ABG and aVBG samples are drawn from patients via arterial catheter, central venous catheter and/or peripheral venous catheter and compared.