[Clinical application of a software for the analysis of arterial blood gases graph in 231 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical significance of a computer software for the analysis of arterial blood gases graph (ABGG) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD). METHODS: The software was developed with Win98 as the operating platform and the visual software Delphi 5.0 from Borland Company, and it was used for evaluation of the changes in arterial blood gases (ABG) of 231 COPD cases. RESULTS: (1) With the software it took only (4.7+/-0.5)s to draw and analyze an ABGG of COPD patients during oxygen inhalation; the time was much shorter than manual analysis (90.2+/-4.9)s, P<0.001. (2) During acute attack, the distributions of the arterial blood gases parameters on ABGG were as follows: 55.4% of cases in the area of insufficient ventilation and deranged gas exchange (area 5), 22.9% of cases in the area of compensated ventilation and deranged gas exchange (area 4), 21.6% of cases in the area of excessive ventilation and deranged gas exchange (area 6). (3) When the COPD patient's condition improved, the location of ABG in ABGG shifted from area 5 to area 4 or area 6. The distributions of the arterial blood gases parameters on ABGG of 106 cases on admission were significantly different from those at the time of discharge. (4) With deterioration of patient's condition, it shifted to area 5. Before death, the arterial blood gases parameters were exclusively in the area 5. CONCLUSION: The computer software for ABGG shortened the time to draw and evaluate ABG during oxygen inhalation, and it could reflect the changes in patient's condition promptly.