Relationship between oxygen delivery and oxygen con-sumption in patients with multipl e organ failure

We attempted to identify oxygen extraction defectwhich might exist between oxygen delivery(DO_2)andoxygen consumption(VO_2)in patients with multiple or-gan failure (MOF). 18 critically ill patients were dividedinto MOF group(n = 10)and non-MOF group(n = 8).No significant difference in oxygen kinetic variables wasfound between groups in the initial( 6 hours after admis-sion)and teminal(before the removal of pulmonarycatheter)stages of the observation,Higher mortality atthe end of the study was found in MOF group as com-pared with non-MOF group ( 80.0%vs 12.5%)butthere was no sigmificant differpnce in mortality betweenthe two groups at the time of discharge, Higher incidenceof pathologic oxygen supply dependecy of oxygen con-siimption existed in MOF group as compared with non-MOF group. We conclude that a single kinetic lneasure-ment of oxygen couid not reflect the state of tissue oxy-genation and the severity of illness, It might be inade-quate to use the mortality op hospital discharge as an cri-terion for evaluating prognosis. Pathologic oxygen supplydependecy of oxygen consumption might be an importantpathophysiologic mechanism of MOF.