• Takashi Tagami, Shigeki Kushimoto, Yasuhiro Yamamoto, Takahiro Atsumi, Ryoichi Tosa, Kiyoshi Matsuda, Renpei Oyama, Takanori Kawaguchi, Tomohiko Masuno, Hisao Hirama, and Hiroyuki Yokota.
• Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Aidu Chuo Hospital, 1-1 Tsuruga, Aiduwakamatsu, Fukushima, 965-8611, Japan. t-tagami@nms.ac.jp
• Crit Care. 2010 Jan 1;14(5):R162.

IntroductionGravimetric validation of single-indicator extravascular lung water (EVLW) and normal EVLW values has not been well studied in humans thus far. The aims of this study were (1) to validate the accuracy of EVLW measurement by single transpulmonary thermodilution with postmortem lung weight measurement in humans and (2) to define the statistically normal EVLW values.MethodsWe evaluated the correlation between pre-mortem EVLW value by single transpulmonary thermodilution and post-mortem lung weight from 30 consecutive autopsies completed within 48 hours following the final thermodilution measurement. A linear regression equation for the correlation was calculated. In order to clarify the normal lung weight value by statistical analysis, we conducted a literature search and obtained the normal reference ranges for post-mortem lung weight. These values were substituted into the equation for the correlation between EVLW and lung weight to estimate the normal EVLW values.ResultsEVLW determined using transpulmonary single thermodilution correlated closely with post-mortem lung weight (r = 0.904, P < 0.001). A linear regression equation was calculated: EVLW (mL) = 0.56 × lung weight (g) - 58.0. The normal EVLW values indexed by predicted body weight were approximately 7.4 ± 3.3 mL/kg (7.5 ± 3.3 mL/kg for males and 7.3 ± 3.3 mL/kg for females).ConclusionsA definite correlation exists between EVLW measured by the single-indicator transpulmonary thermodilution technique and post-mortem lung weight in humans. The normal EVLW value is approximately 7.4 ± 3.3 mL/kg.Trial RegistrationUMIN000002780.

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