Capnography monitoring in procedural intravenous sedation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Objectives: Currently, procedural sedation in the clinical setting relies heavily on the use of pulse oximetry to monitor hypoxemia. Different studies suggest that incidence of hypoxemia and incidence of arterial oxygen desaturation are reduced by early intervention via capnography monitoring. The aim of this article was to discuss the importance of implementing capnography monitoring during procedural sedations performed in a dental setting and determine whether additional capnographic monitoring reduces the incidence of arterial oxygen desaturation and the overall complications rate.

Materials and methods: Two independent reviewers conducted electronic (PubMed and EMBASE) and manual searches up to February 2020. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs), including both patients under procedural sedation monitored by capnography and oximetry, and reporting the incidence of hypoxemia or episodes of oxygen desaturation were included. Risk ratio was used to compare the outcomes (i.e., the incidence of hypoxemia, the episodes of oxygen desaturation, the detection of apnea, the reduction of events of bradycardia, and hypotension) between patients monitored by capnography and standard approach.

Results: Fourteen randomized clinical trials fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected. The analysis revealed that capnography monitoring group showed the lower incidence of hypoxemia (RR 0.76, 95%CI 0.70 to 0.83, p < 0.001) and the episodes of oxygen desaturation (RR 0.79, 95%CI 0.71 to 0.87, p < 0.001) compared with the oximetry monitoring group. Apnea was detected in capnography monitoring earlier than standard monitoring (RR 2.60, 95%CI 2.30 to 2.93, p < 0.001). No significant difference was found between capnography and standard monitoring groups in terms of reduction of events of bradycardia (RR 1.17, 95%CI 0.91 to 1.50, p = 0.225) and hypotension (RR 0.96, 95%CI 0.76 to 1.21, p = 0.746).

Conclusion: Capnography monitoring reduced incidence of hypoxemia during procedural sedations. Within the limitations of this review, we suggest that the application of capnography during procedural sedation would decrease the frequency of oxygen desaturation events and incidence of hypoxemia.

Clinical relevance: Training and instructing dental providers on using capnography monitoring would help in reducing adverse events during intravenous sedation.

Keywords: Evidence based dentistry; Intravenous sedation; Oral surgery; Procedural sedation.