Use of venous-to-arterial carbon dioxide tension difference to guide resuscitation therapy in septic shock

Figure 3 Relationship between the mixed venous-to-arterial PCO₂ difference P (v-a) CO₂ and cardiac output. For a constant total CO₂ production (VCO₂), changes in cardiac output result in large changes in P (v-a) CO₂ in the low values of cardiac output, whereas changes in cardiac output will not result in significant changes in P (v-a) CO₂ in the high values of cardiac output.