The Effect of Heat on Blood and Oxygen Flow Readings Part 2

This is the second part of a research study in order to determine if using a specialized pulse oximetry probe with external heat pack will help obtain oxygen saturation (SaO2) and heart rate (HR) during monitoring for patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD), vasoconstriction, and hypothermic extremities. The inability to obtain accurate SaO2 and pulse readings can lead to misdiagnosis, incorrect treatment, or procedures to be canceled. SaO2 and pulse readings are important to maintain patient stability during diagnostic testing, surgical procedures and monitoring while in critical care areas. Changes in SaO2 and pulse are important to monitor in order to be able to compensate for any decrease in patient oxygen saturations during hemodynamic monitoring. The primary aim of this study is to determine if using a specialized pulse oximetry probe with external heat pack will improve oxygenation readings in order to obtain SaO2 and pulse readings in patients with PVD, vasoconstriction, and hypothermic extremities as compared to readings obtained from an arterial blood gas. The hypothesis is using a specialized pulse oximetry probe with external heat pack will help obtain more accurate pulse oximetry readings consistent with values obtained with an arterial blood gas.