Determination of cardiac output with multislice spiral computed tomography: a validation study.
OBJECTIVE
To validate and to determine the reproducibility of cardiac output (CO) measurements based on a test-bolus examination in multislice spiral computed tomography (MSCT) in comparison with invasively measured CO using the thermal dilution technique.


METHODS
In 8 swine, CO was determined by invasive thermal dilution technique and by analysis of enhancement data from dynamic MSCT test-bolus examinations. To assess reproducibility, all MSCT examinations were performed twice. Results were compared using Pearson's correlation coefficient and Bland-Altman plots.


RESULTS
Measure by thermal dilution technique CO was 3.71 +/- 1.12 L/min, whereas CO was 3.67 +/- 1.30 L/min using MSCT. Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.89. The average deviation between MSCT and thermal dilution technique was 0.04 L/min with a standard deviation of 0.59 L/min. There was a good agreement between both MSCT measurements with a mean deviation of -0.03 L/min and a standard deviation of 0.51 L/min.


CONCLUSIONS
CO can reliably be determined from MSCT by means of indicator dilution technique. Measurements are reproducible and provide valuable information on the overall cardiovascular performance without application of additional contrast material or radiation. As this technique does not require time-consuming postprocessing it can be added to routine reporting.
Mahnken
Andreas H
AH
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Aachen University of Technology, Germany. mahnken@rad.rwth-aachen.de
Henzler
Dietrich
D
Klotz
Ernst
E
Hennemuth
Anja
A
Wildberger
Joachim E
JE
Günther
Rolf W
RW
D000818:Animals; D002302:Cardiac Output; D006321:Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D007201:Indicator Dilution Techniques; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013552:Swine; D036542:Tomography, Spiral Computed