PERFUSION INDEX VALUES ARE CONSISTENT ACROSS COMMON LYING SURGICAL POSITIONS

Perfusion Index (PI) is an important vital sign in medical practice, with increasing utility in a variety of medical specialties. Its relevance extends to critical care and serves as a valuable measure of anesthetic efficacy. Despite its growing importance, there is a notable lack of literature on the potential impact of different surgical positions on PI measurements. Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap by investigating whether PI exhibits variance in four different surgical positions: supine, prone, right and left lateral decubitus. The interventional prospective study included 27 volunteers who underwent PI measurement in each position in a randomized order. Using a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures, the results showed that at a 5% significance level, no significant differences were found in measured PI values between supine, prone, right and left lateral decubitus positions. Higher standard deviations in the right (±4.46%) and left (±4.58%) lateral decubitus positions indicate greater PI variability than in the supine (±3.91%) and prone (±3.88%) positions. The results suggest consistency of PI measurements across different surgical positions, adding to the knowledge of standardization of PI measurements and interpretation of measured absolute PI values.