Risk of wound infection is increased in morbidly obese surgical patients, in part because a major determinant of wound infection risk, tissue oxygenation, is marginal. Unlike in lean patients, supplemental inspired oxygen (FIO 2 ) only slightly improves tissue oxygenation in obese patients. Mild hypercapnia improves tissue oxygenation in lean, but has not been evaluated in obese patients. We thus tested the hypothesis that mild hypercapnia markedly improves tissue oxygenation in morbidly obese patients given FIO 2 80% during major abdominal surgery. Thirty obese patients (body mass index 61.5±17 kg/m 2 ) scheduled for open gastric bypass were randomly assigned to normocapnia (n=15, end-tidal PCO 2 35 mmHg) or hypercapnia (n=15, end-tidal PCO 2 50 mmHg); FIO 2 was 80%. Anesthetic management and other confounding factors were controlled. Tissue oxygen tension was measured subcutaneously at the upper arm using a polarographic probe in a silastic tonometer. Demographic characteristics, cardiovascular measurements, and PaO 2 (222±48 versus 230±68 mmHg in normocapnic versus hypercapnic; mean±SD, P=0.705) were comparable in the groups. Tissue oxygen tension, however, was greater in hypercapnic than in normocapnic patients (78±31 versus 56±13 mmHg, P=0.029). Mild hypercapnia increased tissue oxygenation by