Pulse Oximeter Reading CO?

[FireMedic65]

I was chillin at the fire house earlier and my captain asks me for help with getting medical equipment for our squad truck. Anyway, he was asking about a pulse ox that reads CO, yes CO (carbon monoxide). He said a nurse said it would be a good idea and all that.

Is this a new device? From what I remember, the way a pulse ox works is by reading the affinity of o2 attached to the hemoglobin by using light shining into the blood and doing something fancy that gives a reading based on the color of the blood.

Also, C0 attaches to the hemoglobin a lot easier than o2 does; thus giving you a false positive in the reading.

With that in mind, did he hear what the nurse said improperly? Is there a new device that will detect C0?

Information please I can't find anything on the interweb that is useful.

[paramedicmike]

I was chillin at the fire house earlier and my captain asks me for help with getting medical equipment for our squad truck. Anyway, he was asking about a pulse ox that reads CO, yes CO (carbon monoxide). He said a nurse said it would be a good idea and all that.

Is this a new device? From what I remember, the way a pulse ox works is by reading the affinity of o2 attached to the hemoglobin by using light shining into the blood and doing something fancy that gives a reading based on the color of the blood.

Also, C0 attaches to the hemoglobin a lot easier than o2 does; thus giving you a false positive in the reading.

With that in mind, did he hear what the nurse said improperly? Is there a new device that will detect C0?

Information please I can't find anything on the interweb that is useful.

You mean something like this?

Try here, too.

Edited June 29, 2010 by paramedicmike

[island emt]

You mean something like this?

Try here, too.

What Mike said:

We've been using the Rad 57 for 5 years, both as a diagnostic tool and as a preventative check for all fire fighters when they come to rehab for bottle change.. It is as easy to use as a regular pulse oximeter and has proven to be well worth the cost.

[tskstorm]

the Rad57 is used here on all firefighters before they can return to the "house" after a working fire.

[mobey]

We just took delivery of our LP15, and it too has CO detection.

[FireMedicChick164]

We have had our Rad 57 for 2 years now and let me tell you it is the best piece of equipment we have ever purchased! Have used it many many times not just for civilian cases but for rehab for our firefighters at fire scenes. Has proved a very valuable and useful diagnostic tool. This has resulted in us diverting to a hospital which has a hyperbaric chamber (which is farther than our closest receiving ER) based on the pt's CO levels....better for the patient! Definitely worth the money!

http://medgadget.com/archives/2005/03/rad57_pulse_coo.html

[Lone Star]

It was explained to me in EMT-B class, that the standard pulse-oxymeter can be 'tricked' by CO. In some cases, the SPO2 reading was in the high 90% range on patients that had just been taken out of a high CO environment. It was explained that because of the fact that CO has a 7 times higher affinity than oxygen, this causes the false high reading.

[Aeromedic]

And now with some Science Geek Time: As mentioned before, CO has a stronger affinity for hemoglobin than o2. CO also turns hemoglobin a different colour. While this colour difference isn't necessarily discernible to the naked eye, the guys at Masimo realized that they could filter the light and in fact read CO in addition to o2. This is of course because it shines a light through the patients finger and measures the refraction of X wavelength of light to determine the total oxyhemoglobin (or carboxyhemoglobin) saturation.

[FireMedic65]

Thanks for the quick and informative responses everyone; it is very much appreciated. I will be making my recommendation on purchasing this product.

[Aeromedic]

How about recommend buying 2 and send one to me, I need a new one