What is it about?
Oxygen supplementation is an important treatment in veterinary medicine. This article assessed the use of flow-by (pointing an oxygen tube close to the patient's nose) as an alternative to the routine use of a face mask during oxygen supplementation, by comparing their efficacy on the concentration of oxygen in blood (partial pressure of arterial oxygen).
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Why is it important?
Oxygen supplementation is routinely performed in diseased animals with respiratory problems, or in healthy animals prior to surgery. The use of a face mask has been well established to be effective, but is also known to be poorly tolerated. In the contrary, the flow-by technique is anecdotally used due to good patient tolerance, but limited information regarding its efficacy is known. Our findings show that the use of flow-by is useful, though not as effective as the use of a face mask.
Perspectives
This article aims to provide literature support for veterinarians to the use of flow-by oxygen supplementation in clinical settings. Though further studies are needed to examine its efficacy in animals with respiratory disease.
Dr Adrian Wong
University of Sydney
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Comparison of the effect of oxygen supplementation using flow-by or a face mask on the partial pressure of arterial oxygen in sedated dogs, New Zealand Veterinary Journal, September 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/00480169.2018.1528903.
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