Differential Tissue and Organ Anoxia in Disease: The Measurement of Peri-Articular Oxygen Saturation Levels in Patients with Arthritis

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Abstract
The vascular complex concerned with peri-articular O2 metabolism was studied. The Millikan photo-electric oximeter was used to determine the arterial blood O2 saturation levels of the general circulation. Peri-articular detns. were carried out by a modification of the reduction time method descr. by Ray. Reduction time or spectroscope oximetry technique is discontinuous in contrast with the continuous oximeter analysis. The spectroscope was trained on any reasonably thin area of skin of the hands or wrists and highly reliable results were obtained. 35 healthy subjects and 10 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were studied. The patients with rheumatoid arthritis showed a dissociation between the O2 saturation levels recorded by the two oximetric methods. The peri-articular vessels showed a degree of anoxia which bore a relationship to the apparent degree of local clinical arthritis. No generalized anoxemia was found on routine examination in either patients or controls. It was also found that anoxia around affected joints was temporarily reversible after admn. of O2 by inhalation.