• Cornelia W Hoedemaekers and Johannes G van der Hoeven.
• Department of Intensive Care, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
• Crit Care. 2011 Jan 1;15(3):166.

AbstractIn the last decade, moderate hypothermia has become the mainstay of treatment in the post-resuscitation period. However, for the damaged brain, optimizing oxygen transport, including arterial oxygenation, may also be important. The current view states that hyperoxia in the immediate post-resuscitation period may worsen cerebral outcome, and international guidelines recommend a target arterial oxygen saturation of 94% to 98%. An article in the previous issue of Critical Care challenges this viewpoint. In an elegant study using a Cox proportional hazards model combined with sensitivity analyses and time period matching, the authors show no independent association between hyperoxia and in-hospital mortality. The present commentary discusses these contradictory findings and suggests a practical solution to solve these differences.

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