A new method for calibrating indicator dilution curves.

A technique is proposed and experiments carried out to validate an in vivo method of calibrating ascorbate dilution curves. Cardiac output measured by the proposed method (COi) was compared to cardiac output measured by electromagnetic flowmeter (COe). COe averaged 1,281 mg/min and COi averaged 1,284 ml/min (P greater than 0.90). Correlation between the two methods was 0.92. It is concluded that the proposed method measures CO with reasonable accuracy and provides a number of advantages over the usual method of measuring blood flow by means of indicators.