CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) - Cerebral Oxygenation

Several projects in high altitude research in environments with a low oxygen partial pressure (hypobaric hypoxia) leading to hypoxemia showed, that cerebral perfusion and cerebral performance could be improved by adding C02 (cabon dioxide). The investigators hypothesize that adding 5% C02 to 02 (Oxygen) also under normobaric conditions increases the time until a significant cerebral hyopxia is measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) compared to the administration of 95% 02. lf this hypothesis proves to be true, this approach might be used in situations in which individuals are prone to cerebral hypoxia. In bariatric surgery, patients that experience an apnea phase are more prone to (cerebral) hypoxia due to the fact, that they have a higher body mass index (BMI) leading to a reduced functional residual capacity (FRC), which serves as the oxygen reserve in the body.