Hawaii medical journal
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Hawaii medical journal · Jan 2008
Clinical TrialCirculating blood volume measurements correlate poorly with pulmonary artery catheter measurements.
Determination of the intravascular volume status of a critically ill surgical patient is paramount for appropriate fluid and cardiovascular management. Many clinical parameters have been utilized to estimate intravascular volume but none are precise indicators of circulating blood volume. The purpose of this observational pilot study was to compare measured blood volume with hemodynamic parameters obtained from the pulmonary artery catheter and to determine if incorporation of these measurements altered treatment decisions in critically ill surgical patients. ⋯ Circulating blood volume measurements may be useful in critically ill surgical patients when clinical appraisal of intravascular volume is uncertain. This remains to be validated in a larger, prospective randomized trial.