Abstract

Pulse  oximetry  is  used  as  a  screening  test  for  critical  congenital  heart  disease.  Current  algorithms involve one or to re-screenings for some patients. That may take 2-8 hours before a diagnosis is made. I propose that after the initial screen, patients who do not pass the test be given a short exposure to high oxygen concentration in order to eliminate lung disease as a cause of the desaturation.

Keywords

oxygen, lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, critical congenital heart, pneumonia, oxygenation, disease, ongenital heart disease, normal, pulse, oximetry