Journal of clinical monitoring and computing
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J Clin Monit Comput · Jul 1999
Lithium dilution cardiac output measurements using a peripheral injection site comparison with central injection technique and thermodilution.
The lithium dilution technique for the measurement of cardiac output by the central injection of lithium chloride was introduced by Linton et al. in 1993. In the present report, we compare lithium dilution cardiac output measurement (LD) by the peripheral injection of lithium chloride (pLD) and by central venous injection (cLD), cardiac output determined by electromagnetic flowmetry (EM), and conventional thermodilution cardiac output measurement (TD) on ten swine. ⋯ The results of the present study indicate that pLD is a reliable technique.
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J Clin Monit Comput · Jul 1999
Increase in twitch force of the adductor pollicis muscle with stabilized preload at constant thumb abduction before and after administration of muscle relaxant.
To determine whether the twitch force of the adductor pollicis remains stable when 0.1 Hz single twitch stimulation is started after stabilization of the thumb preload at a constant degree of thumb abduction; also to study any possible increase in twitch force before the onset of and after the recovery from neuromuscular block. ⋯ Twitch forces may increase when stimulation is started after stabilization of thumb preload at a constant degree of thumb abduction. In some patients twitch forces may increase before the onset of neuromuscular block with vecuronium or d-tubocurarine; twitch forces increase after recovery from suxamethonium.
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Inhaled nitric oxide (NO) was found to cause selective pulmonary vasodilation in the late 1980's and since then there has been a huge interest in studying its clinical benefits. The equipment used to deliver and monitor inhaled NO has gone through a dramatic evolution from simple flow meters and industrial monitors to to-days purpose built, fully integrated, NO delivery and monitoring systems that were designed specifically for the demanding area of the intensive care unit. This paper explores the evolution of inhaled NO delivery systems and identifies the design challenges, the safety and regulatory requirements and the ease of use issues that had to be solved to bring this new exciting new class of medical device in to clinical use.