GI P i CO 2 : Tissue Specific Monitoring For Improving Patient Outcomes

Summary Improvements in human patient monitoring despite their development in animals, do not always find their way into veterinary clinical use due to financial constraints. Gastrointestinal intraluminal CO 2 partial pressure (Gip 1 CO 2 ) monitoring, however, is not only proving very beneficial in human trauma and critical patient care but is also very likely to become relatively inexpensive. By providing information on the perfusion adequacy of a high risk, critically important tissue, the GI mucosa, GI P 1 CO 2 monitoring offers an easily accesible indicator of the efficacy and adequacy of resuscitative interventions. The potential for decreasing morbidity and mortality is enormous. Therefore, the practicing veterinarian should become familiar with GI P 1 CO 2 monitoring theory and technology so he or she can be better prepared to incorporate it into practice when in becomes available.