Impact of Preoxygenation Time on End-tidal Oxygen Concentration and on Hypoxic Events Occurring After Intubation in the Intensive Care Unit.

Preoxygenation is recommended before performing tracheal intubation. In intensive care units (ICU) patients, there is no specific recommendation regarding the duration of preoxygenation, which usually is applied for 3 to 5 minutes. Monitoring the effectiveness of preoxygenation with end-tidal oxygen concentration (EtO2) is strongly recommended in the operating room but it is never used in ICUs. The first aim of this pilot study is to assess the effect of the preoxygenation duration on EtO2, and secondarily, as an exploratory objective, to determine whether targeting a given value of EtO2 during preoxygenation might insure a safer intubation than when targeting pulse oximetry (SpO2).