title: Cardiac output measurement by transpulmonary versus conventional thermodilution technique in intensive care patients after coronary artery bypass grafting.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the correlation, accuracy, and precision of transpulmonary thermodilution cardiac output (CO) measurement. For this purpose, this technique was compared with the clinical gold standard, the CO measurement by pulmonary artery catheter in patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective clinical study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A university medical center.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-five patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) after CABG.
  
  
  METHODS
  Standard (SCO) and transpulmonary thermodilution CO measurement (TPCO) measurements were simultaneously performed in triplicate by central venous injection of cooled saline solution. All variables were recorded at five different time points of measurement during weaning from mechanical ventilation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CO measurements yielded 375 data pairs. SCO ranged from 2.0 to 10.2 L/min, and TPCO from 1.3 to 10.6 L/min. During the entire observation period, TPCO measurements tended to yield relatively high values, whereas SCO measurements resulted in lower values. Correlation between TPCO and SCO measurements was significant (r = 0.73; p < 0.05), accompanied by an accuracy with a bias of 0.456 L/min (7.3%) and a precision of 1.156 L/min (18.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In most patients, TPCO measurement will not replace the conventional technique by pulmonary artery catheter, but in some patients it offers an attractive, reliable, and safe method to determine CO.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesia, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gust
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gottschalk
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.forename: B W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Böttiger
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Böhrer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002302:Cardiac Output; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013815:Thermodilution