Central Venous Oxygen Saturation as a Predictor of a Successful Spontaneous Breathing Trial from Mechanical Ventilation: A Prospective, Nested Case-Control Study

Background: Weaning from mechanical ventilation is a key element in the care of critically ill patients, and Spontaneous Breathing Trial (SBT) is a crucial step in this procedure. This nested case-control study aimed to evaluate whether central oxygen saturation (ScvO₂) values and their changes could independently predict the SBT outcome among mechanically ventilated patients.

Methods: A prospective cohort of patients who were mechanically ventilated for at least 48hours and fulfilled the criteria of readiness to wean constituted the study population. All patients attempted a SBT and were then categorized in SBT success group and SBT failure group, based on a combination of criteria which indicated whether SBT was successful or not. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was utilized to indicate the independent predictors of SBT success, while the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were used to demonstrate the diagnostic accuracy of these independent predictors.

Results: Seventy-seven patients 69(18-86) years old; 62.3% male) constituted the study population. SBT was successful among 63.6% of them. A decrease in ScvO₂ values (ΔScvO₂) < 4% between the beginning and the end of the trial independently predicted the successful outcome (OR=18.278; 95% CI=4.017-83.163), along with age, Hemoglobin concentration (Hb) and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO₂). Diagnostic accuracy for ΔScvO₂ alone (ROC area=0.715) was slightly superior to that of either SaO₂ (0.625) or Hb (0.685) to predict SBT success.

Conclusion: ScvO₂ is an independent predictor of the weaning outcome and its evaluation may further facilitate the accurate categorization among those patients who pass or fail the SBT.