Abstract
Only intermittent and semi-continuous tonometric measurement of gastric andintestinal pHi is possible with the equipment available today. Earlier wedeveloped a system for continuous saline tonometry and tested it in vitro. To assess the in vivo reliability of this method forcontinuous gastrointestinal saline tonometry, a standard tonometer formeasurement of intestinal pCO2 and corresponding pHi was modified toallow continuous perfusion of physiological saline in a closed system andtested in a porcine model. In 11 anaesthetized and haemodynamically stablepigs, two continuous tonometry balloons were inserted into the distal smallbowel, and a standard tonometry balloon was used as reference. To testlong-term function of the continuous tonometers the research protocol lastedfor eight hours. The two continuous saline tonometers performed well, andafter an equilibration time of three hours the mean pHi values were stablebetween 7.35 and 7.43 and between 7.32 and 7.39 respectively. The standard tonometermeasured stable pHi values. These preliminary studies indicate thatcontinuous saline tonometry performs well over eight hours with a small biasand a good precision.
Published Version
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