title: Transpulmonary Thermodilution Versus Transthoracic Echocardiography for Cardiac Output Measurements in Severely Burned Children.
abstract: Severe burns trigger a hyperdynamic state, necessitating accurate measurement of cardiac output (CO) for cardiovascular observation and guiding fluid resuscitation. However, it is unknown whether, in burned children, the increasingly popular transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) method of CO measurement is as accurate as the widely used transpulmonary thermodilution (TPTD) method.
  
  
  
  We retrospectively compared near-simultaneously performed CO measurements in severely burned children using TPTD with the Pulse index Continuous Cardiac Output (PiCCO) system or TTE. Outcomes were compared using t tests, multiple linear regression, and a Bland-Altman plot.
  
  
  
  Fifty-four children (9 ± 5 years) with 68 ± 18% total body surface area burns were studied. An analysis of 105 data pairs revealed that PiCCO yielded higher CO measurements than TTE (190 ± 39% vs. 150 ± 50% predicted values; P < 0.01). PiCCO- and TTE-derived CO measurements correlated moderately well (R = 0.54, P < 0.01). A Bland-Altman plot showed a mean bias of 1.53 L/min with a 95% prediction interval of 4.31 L/min.
  
  
  
  TTE-derived estimates of CO may underestimate severity of the hyperdynamic state in severely burned children. We propose using the PiCCO system for objective cardiovascular monitoring and to guide goal-directed fluid resuscitation in this population.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Surgery, University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospitals for Children, Galveston, Texas †Division of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria ‡Ross Tilley Burn Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Division of Plastic Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada §Department of Anesthesiology, University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospitals for Children, Galveston, Texas ¶Sealy Center for Molecular Medicine and the Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wurzer
authors.forename: Ludwik K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Branski
authors.forename: Marc G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Jeschke
authors.forename: Arham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Kinsky
authors.forename: Fredrick J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Bohanon
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hundeshagen
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Norbury
authors.forename: Felicia N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Lars-P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Kamolz
authors.forename: Celeste C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Finnerty
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Herndon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002056:Burns / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002302:Cardiac Output / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013815:Thermodilution / Q000379:methods*