A multicenter evaluation of a new continuous cardiac output pulmonary artery catheter system.

OBJECTIVE

To validate a new system of continuous cardiac output monitoring.

DESIGN

Multicenter, prospective, nonrandomized clinical study.

SETTING

Four university hospitals.

PATIENTS

Forty-seven adult intensive care unit patients.

INTERVENTIONS

Pulmonary artery catheterization.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Continuous and bolus cardiac output measurements were obtained over 72 hrs. The 327 continuous cardiac output measurements compared favorably with bolus cardiac output measurements (bias = 0.12 L/min, precision = +/-0.84). The continuous cardiac measurement was not adversely affected by temperatures of <37 degrees C or >38 degrees C, high (>7.5 L/min) or low (<4.5 L/min) cardiac output values, or duration (72 hrs) of the study.

CONCLUSIONS

This continuous cardiac output system provides a reliable estimate of cardiac output for clinical use if applied in conditions similar to this study. The combination of a continuous measure of cardiac output with other continuous physiologic monitoring (arterial and mixed venous oxygen saturation, oxygen consumption, etc.) may provide important information that no single parameter could achieve.