Some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may become desaturated during exercise. These patients can be identified using the 6-minute walk test (6MWT). A patient with exercise-induced oxygen desaturation may benefit from ambulatory oxygen therapy (AOT).
Patient selection: COPD with baseline oxygen saturation > 90%
Parameters:
(1) baseline oxygen saturation in percent
(2) minimum oxygen saturation during exercise in percent
Criteria for exercise-induced desaturation – both of the following:
(2) minimum oxygen saturation during exercise < 90%
Andrianopoulos recommended monitoring oxygen saturation throughout the exercise period in order to detect the minimum saturation since the value at the end of the exercise may not be the minimum value in some patients.
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