Red blood cell oxygen has been released the resulting deoxyhemoglobin is of a dark red burgundy color. However, blood can appear bluish when seen through the vessel wall and skin. Pulse oximetry takes advantage of the hemoglobin color change to directly measure the arterial blood oxygen saturation using colorimetric techniques. Hemoglobin also has a very high affinity for carbon monoxide, forming carboxyhemoglobin which is a very bright red in color. Flushed, confused patients with a saturation reading of 100% on pulse oximetry are sometimes found to be suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. Having oxygen-carrying proteins inside specialized cells (as opposed to oxygen carriers
Arterial blood gas test can be determined. Such information is vital when caring for patients with critical illnesses or respiratory disease. Therefore, the ABG test is one of the most common tests performed on patients in intensive-care units. In other levels of care, pulse oximetry plus transcutaneous carbon-dioxide measurement is a less invasive, alternative method of obtaining similar information. An ABG test can also measure the level of bicarbonate in the blood. Many blood-gas analyzers will also report concentrations of lactate, hemoglobin, several electrolytes, oxyhemoglobin, carboxyhemoglobin, and methemoglobin. ABG testing is mainly used in pulmonology and critical-care medicine to determine gas exchange across the