1 Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, lrvine, California 92664
2 Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90027
A new automatic system for the monitoring and controlling of ambient oxygen in incubators was evaluated with newborn infants requiring oxygen therapy. Ambient oxygen was controlled to within ±1% of the preselected level. High and low incubator oxygen flow had no effect on the skin, rectal, and ambient temperature, and there was no accumulation of carbon dioxide. With the infant's tissue oxygen monitored, this system permits controlled "step down acclimatization" from high to normal environmental oxygen concentrations, thereby minimizing the untoward effects of hypoxemia and hyperoxemia often seen with current manual methods of oxygen regulation.