Skeletal muscle PO2 during imminent shock

Abstract

Measuring skeletal muscle PO2, as described in this article, is a valuable method to assess skeletal muscle oxygenation. Skeletal muscle PO2 assessment enables to monitor patients at risk, to detect imminent shock, to assess the severity of shock and to evaluate the effects of therapy in a wide variety of experimental and clinical conditions. The consistent finding in all experimental and clinical studies of septic shock performed by others and by us, that tissue PO2 decreases before cardiorespiratory parameters deteriorate, strongly suggests that the initiating event of septic shock is not a decreased oxygen supply to the tissue, but rather a disturbance in the microcirculation, possible maldistribution of blood flow and/or impaired diffusion of oxygen to the mitochondria.