Perspectives on cardiovascular monitoring in 1977.
During the past several decades, cardiovascular monitoring has been used with increasing frequency. Measurement of pressures, flows, cardiac rhythm, and blood gases permits the physician and surgeon to apply physiological concepts for treating patients with disease. More complex surgical procedures are now possible. Higher postoperative survival rates have resulted directly from careful monitoring and treatment in the postoperative care units. Operations may be performed with greater safety because of cardiovascular monitoring in the operating room. The relationship between the respiratory system and the circulatory system in managing patients with disease and in patients who are postoperative has been elucidated by new monitoring techniques. The value of extending monitoring to ambulatory patients is just being appreciated, and techniques to do so have been developed. The future offers much promise for an improved quality of medical care, with advanced techniques in cardiovascular monitoring that will be developed for use in the very near future. It is our hope that this symposium will provide useful information for those responsible for selecting such systems in future years.
D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003201:Computers; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation