title: Comparison of lithium dilution and thermodilution cardiac output measurements in anaesthetised neonatal foals.
abstract: Knowledge of cardiac output is expected to help guide the treatment of hypotension associated with critical illness and/or anaesthesia in neonatal foals. However, a practical and safe method of measuring cardiac output has not been described for the foal. Lithum dilution, a new method of cardiac output determination not requiring cardiac catheterisation, has recently been reported in mature horses. We compared this method to thermodilution in isoflurane-anaesthetised foals age 30-42 h and found good agreement between the 2 methods in a range of cardiac outputs 5.4-20.4 l/min. The lithium dilution technique is a practical and reliable method of measuring cardiac output in anaesthetised neonatal foals, and warrants investigation in critically ill conscious foals.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000662:veterinary; D002302:Cardiac Output; D016638:Critical Illness; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006736:Horses / Q000502:physiology*; D007022:Hypotension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D007201:Indicator Dilution Techniques / Q000662:veterinary; D008094:Lithium; D008297:Male; D013815:Thermodilution / Q000379:methods / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D008094:Lithium