The importance of oxygen debt determination in the perioperative period

Abstract

The phenomenon of oxygen debt (dO2 ) described several decades ago in the context of physical exercise has been incorporated into medicine, particularly during the hemodynamic changes produced by surgery and anesthesia in high-risk patients. dO2 is defined as the increase in the amount of oxygen consumed by the body immediately after physical exercise until O2 consumption returns to normal. In the perioperative period, an imbalance between oxygen supply (DO2 ) and demand (VO2 ) could generate dO2 . The degree of tissue dO2 has been directly related to multiple organ failure and perioperative morbimortality. Despite advances in medicine, it is not yet possible to prevent or lower the dO2 with fluid administration or vasoactive agents. Delay or inadequate management of hemodynamics could produce tissue hypoperfusion and hypoxia, affecting surgery outcomes. Knowledge and assessing dO2 during perioperative are essential during anesthesia for high-risk patients. Adequate indices are required to detect and quantify tissue hypoperfusion and the imbalance between DO2 and VO2 during anesthesia. This review presents the mechanism, detection, and quantification of dO2 . In addition to interventions to avoid or reduce dO2 and recommendations for anesthesiologists to ensure better results in high-risk surgical patients.