The optimal arterial oxygenation range in critical care

Extract

Oxygen therapy remains a crucial intervention in critical care. One of the core aspects in oxygen therapy concerns the optimal oxygenation level, which is commonly measured in the form of partial pressure of arterial oxygen (P_aO2). Multiple randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been performed to investigate different oxygenation goals in critical care [1, 2]. However, one important challenge, as demonstrated by a recent network meta-analysis [2], is that most RCTs only compared two oxygenation levels that differed across studies, making it difficult to determine an optimal oxygenation goal [2]. While several meta-analyses have been performed, most have dichotomised oxygenation goals into liberal (i.e. targeting a higher oxygenation level) versus conservative (i.e. targeting a lower oxygenation level): a relatively qualitative oversimplification of the problem [3, 4]. Therefore, further investigations are needed to determine a more quantitative optimal oxygenation goal.