Evaluation of a new continuous thermodilution cardiac output monitor in cardiac surgical patients

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Abstract
To evaluate the accuracy of a new continuous cardiac output monitor in critically ill patients. Criterion standard study. Cardiac surgery intensive care unit in a university hospital. Twenty cardiac surgical patients requiring intensive care treatment with pulmonary artery catheters after surgery. None. Cardiac output was monitored continuously with a modified pulmonary artery catheter that has a heating filament on the outside of the catheter. Four modes of data processing with different response times ("Normal," "Fast," "FastFilter," and "Urgent" modes) used by the monitoring system. A total of 240 determinations of cardiac output were performed using conventional bolus thermodilution technique; these results were compared with those obtained using three of the four continuous measuring modes available ("Normal," "FastFilter," and "Urgent"). Cardiac output ranged from 3.47 to 15.77 L/min (bolus thermodilution). The mean (bias) +/- SD of differences (precision) for all measurements was 0.40+/-1.26 L/min in the Normal mode (cardiac output 10 L/min did not agree with the results of the bolus thermodilution method.