• R A Linton, M M Jonas, S M Tibby, I A Murdoch, T K O'Brien, N W Linton, and D M Band.
• The Rayne Institute, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK. robert@foxlinton.demon.co.uk
• Intensive Care Med. 2000 Oct 1;26(10):1507-11.

ObjectiveTo compare the results of cardiac output measurements obtained by lithium dilution and transpulmonary thermodilution in paediatric patients.DesignA prospective study.SettingPaediatric intensive care unit in a university teaching hospital.PatientsTwenty patients (age 5 days-9 years; weight 2.6-28.2 kg) were studied.InterventionsBetween two and four comparisons of lithium dilution cardiac output (LiDCO) and transpulmonary thermodilution (TPCO) were made in each patient.Measurements And ResultsResults from three patients were excluded: in one patient there was an unsuspected right-to-left shunt, in two patients there was a problem with blood sampling through the lithium sensor. There were 48 comparisons of LiDCO and TPCO in the remaining 17 patients over a range of 0.4-6 l/min. The mean of the differences (LiDCO-TPCO) was -0.1 +/- 0.3 (SD) l/min. Linear regression analysis gave LiDCO = 0.11 + 0.90 x TPCO l/min (r2 = 0.96). There were no adverse effects in any patient.ConclusionsThese results suggest that the LiDCO method can be used to provide safe and accurate measurement of cardiac output in paediatric patients. The method is simple and quick to perform, requiring only arterial and venous catheters, which will already have been inserted for other reasons in these patients.

29 keywords...

hide…