[Impedance cardiography, a method to evaluate quantitatively cardiac output? Comparison with the Fick principle (author's transl)].

In 36 children without shunts nearly 280 electrical impedance measurements were carried out in order to estimate the accuracy of the impedance cardiography as a means of calculating output. During evaluation up to 22 combinations of test conditions and possibilities of evaluation per child were tested. As a reference method the Fick Principle was used. The reproducibility of impedance measurements showed itself to be high, but no agreement of the results by impedance cardigraphy and corresponding values by the Fick method could be found. Some reasons give rise to suppose that impedance cardiography only reflects changes in the intrathoracic fluid level occurring during heart action from which because of formal reasons no interference should be drawn about the original cardiac output. Besides physical arguments tell against the possibility of picking up these volume-changes quantitatively by analyzing transthoracic electrical impedance.