ABSTRACT
Determination of blood oxygen status is essential in evaluating the severity of conditions that produce oxygen depletion and ultimately lead to abnormalities in cellular oxygen metabolism, resulting in organ and whole body functional abnormalities. The ability to measure all the components of oxygen status, combined with a knowledge of their interaction and variabilities allows for greater scope in patient management and provides important information on the integrity of the cardiopulmonary system. This chapter presents a concise analysis of the determinants of oxygen status in human blood, with detailed explanations of the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve and the oxygen content curve, and includes a section on oxygen transport and the development and use of instruments capable of accurately measuring the parameters in oxygen concentration that have greatly enhanced our understanding of cardiac, pulmonary and circulatory function.
