Efficiency of oxygen delivery through different oxygen entrainment devices during sedation under low oxygen flow rate: a bench study

Sedative anesthetic procedures outside the operating room may depend on cylinders as oxygen source. Cylinders have limited storage capacity and a low oxygen flow rate improves the durability. We conducted the bench study to evaluate the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO₂) in different oxygen entrainment devices under low oxygen flow rate. The purpose of the bench study was to provide information to choose appropriate oxygen entrainment devices in non-operating room sedative anesthetic procedures. We utilized a manikin head-test lung-ventilator model and evaluated eight oxygen entrainment devices, including four nasal cannulas, two oral bite blocks, and two masks. Two different minute volumes that defined as the normal ventilation and the hypoventilation group were evaluated. Three pneuflow resistors were placed in turn in the mouth represented ratio of the nasal/oral breathing. Each condition was sampled 70 times after a 3 min ventilation period. Most devices had few drop in FiO₂ according to the increased oral breathing ratio in normal ventilation. Most devices had obvious drop in FiO₂ related to the increased oral breathing ratio in hypoventilation. Oxygen reservoir units had little effect for accumulating oxygen in normal ventilation. In the hypoventilation group, oxygen reservoir units helped oxygen retention in local area and maintained a higher oxygen concentration. There were multiple factors lead to different oxygen fraction that we measured, such as different devices, respiratory patterns, and oxygen reservoir units. The result of our bench study provided some information for anesthesiologist to choose appropriate oxygen entrainment devices in various sedative anesthetic procedures.