[1] The blood gas tension levels of partial pressures can be used as indicators of ventilation, respiration and oxygenation.
Analysis of paired arterial and venous specimens can give insights into the aetiology of acidosis in the newborn.
Samples from the earlobe are seen to be a more appropriate site for the prediction of the arterial partial pressure of oxygen.
[1] Particularly, umbilical cord blood gas analysis can give an indication of preceding fetal hypoxic stress.
In combination with other clinical information, normal paired arterial and venous cord blood gas results can usually provide a robust defence against a suggestion that an infant had an intrapartum hypoxic-ischaemic event.