The microdiffusion determination of blood oxygen

Abstract A method is presented for the measurement of combined blood oxygen content and capacity with the use of a modified Conway microdiffusion unit. The evaluation of the content and capacity indicates that the method yields linear results over the range of blood oxygen concentrations. Comparisons with the Van Slyke manometric technique showed a mean difference for a series of analyses of only 0.16 volumes per cent combined oxygen over a wide range of blood oxygen concentrations; the microdiffusion analyses had a coefficient of variation of 2.2. The method can be a reliable and accurate means of analyzing blood oxygen with the advantage that a large number of samples can be handled simultaneously.