• Marco Calamandrei, Lorenzo Mirabile, Stefania Muschetta, Gian Franco Gensini, Luciano De Simone, and Salvatore M Romano.
• Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Meyer Children's Hospital, Florence, Italy. m.calamandrei@meyer.it
• Pediatr Crit Care Me. 2008 May 1;9(3):310-2.

ObjectiveTo assess cardiac output in pediatric patients with the pressure recording analytical method (PRAM) and the Doppler echocardiography method. PRAM derives cardiac output from beat-by-beat analysis of the arterial pressure profile (systolic and diastolic phase) in the time domain.DesignA prospective observational study.SettingPediatric intensive care unit at a tertiary care children's hospital.PatientsForty-eight patients between the ages of 1 month and 18 yrs.InterventionsFemoral or radial artery catheterization and mechanical ventilation.Measurements And Main ResultsCardiac output was simultaneously estimated by Doppler echocardiography and PRAM. Cardiac output values obtained by Doppler echocardiography (2.7 +/- 1.6 L/min, range 0.92-8.20) were significantly correlated with those estimated by PRAM (2.6 +/- 1.7 L/min, range 0.89-7.48; r2 = .99, p < .01). The mean difference between the two estimates was 0.12 +/- 0.27 L x min(-1) (95% confidence interval, -0.54 to 0.77 L x min(-1)).ConclusionsIn the range of ages evaluated, PRAM provides reliable estimates of cardiac output when compared with noninvasive techniques.

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