• Martin Boyle, Margherita Murgo, John Lawrence, Andrew Belessis, and Yahya Shehabi.
• Intensive Care Unit, Prince of Wales Hospital, NSW, Australia.
• Aust Crit Care. 2007 Aug 1;20(3):106-12.

ObjectiveTo assess the ability to track changes in cardiac index (Delta CI) induced by volume loading using continuous pulsed heat thermodilution (CCO), and pulse contour (PCCO) cardiac output (CO) with transpulmonary thermodilution (TD(tp)) CO as reference.DesignProspective observational clinical trial.SettingIntensive care unit.PatientsTwelve ventilated and sedated post-operative cardiac surgery patients.Measurements And ResultsEach patient had a 7.5F CCO pulmonary artery catheter (Edwards Lifesciences) and a 5F, 20 cm PCCO femoral artery catheter (Pulsion Medical Systems). Forty-five data sets were taken before and after 25 volume loadings of 5 mL/kg of 4% albumin. Volume loading resulted in an increase in CI (2.84 L/(min m(2)) versus 3.12L/(min m(2)), p<.05) although only nine volume loadings changed CI (Delta CI)> or =14%. The change in CI using PCCO (Delta PCCI) was correlated with Delta CI (TD(tp)) (R(2)=.50, p<.0001), whilst Delta CI using CCO (Delta CCI) was not (R(2)=.14). The bias and limits of agreement (LOA) between Delta TD(tp)CI and Delta PCCI was 6.2% (95% CI, +/-5.8%) and 28.4% (95% CI, +/-38.2%) respectively. Delta TD(tp)CI and Delta CCI has a bias of 2.6% (95% CI, +/-8.3%) and LOA of 39.6% (95% CI, +/-63%). Both Delta PCCI and Delta CCI reliably tracked Delta CI> or =14%.ConclusionIn this small group of patients the continuous cardiac output methods tracked changes in CI, although, in individual cases they did not change in the same direction as the thermodilution method. Critical care nurses need to critically appraise the accuracy and clinical relevance of continuous CO data within the clinical context.

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