The use of central venous oxygen saturation (SvcO2) and arterial lactate
in the diagnosis of severe tissue hypoperfusion is well established, and the
optimization of these parameters is currently under investigation, particularly in
patients with severe sepsis/septic shock. However, the only place for deep venous
puncture or the first choice for puncture is often the femoral vein. Although venous
saturation obtained from blood sampling from this catheter, instead of
SvcO2, has already been used in the diagnosis of severe tissue
hypoperfusion, little is known about the accuracy of the results. The venous lactate
in place of arterial puncture has also been used to guide therapeutic decisions. We
conducted this literature review to seek evidence on the correlation and concordance
of parameters obtained by collecting femoral venous blood gases in relation to
SvcO2 and arterial lactate. Few studies in the literature have
evaluated the use of femoral venous oxygen saturation (SvfO2) or venous
lactate. The results obtained thus far demonstrate no adequate agreement between
SvfO2 and SvcO2, which limits the clinical use of
SvfO2. However, the apparent strong correlation between arterial and
peripheral and central venous lactate values suggests that venous lactate obtained
from the femoral vein could eventually be used instead of arterial lactate, although
there is insufficient evidence on which to base this procedure at this time.