Yes, you heard it right. Capnography Monitors show inaccurate results due to moisture.
Nowadays, the majority of capnometers use NDIR-based sensors. It has light-transmitting and light-absorbing properties that allow it to accurately measure the concentration of CO2 in a patient’s breathing.
The sidestream capnometer has a small pump which continuously takes the air sample from patients’ breathing and transfers it to the sensor. If the sampled air has water contamination (moisture), the light emitted by the sensor is reflected and comparatively less absorbed by the receiver in the sensor. Hence, the sensor does not show accurate results. That is the reason, the sidestream capnometer is used with a Water trap system which stops moisture going to the sensor.
Same way, the mainstream sensor is directly attached to the patient’s ventilator tubes and follows the same problem but it can be avoided using HMF (Heat and moisture exchange filter). To avoid this issue, the mainstream sensor is attached between the HMF filter and the ventilatory tube.
To get accurate results, the capnometer needs to be used with specific guidelines. Because it can give you better results.
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