Subcutaneous gas equilibration in clinical practice.

When surgical emphysema is deliberately induced by injecting air under the skin, it exchanges gas with the tissues until the partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the subcutaneous bubbles and the surrounding tissue fluids are nearly equal. Samples drawn from such a gas depot were first analysed by Leconte and Demarquay (1859) and the method was later applied by other physiologists to experimental studies on animals and man (Bazett and Sribyatta, 1928; Campbell, 1931 ; Meyer, 1935; Seevers, 1936). Clinical use of subcutaneous gas equilibration has not been reported previously. Experience with this technique during the past two years has shown that it is a convenient way of measuring the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the tissue fluids in patients with respiratory disabilities.