Arterial Pulse Cardiac Output Agreement With Thermodilution in Patients in Hyperdynamic Conditions

Objective: This study aimed to compare continuous cardiac output (CCO) obtained using the arterial pulse wave (APCO) measurement with a simultaneous measurement of the intermittent cardiac output (ICO) and CCO obtained with a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) in liver transplant patients.

Design: A prospective, single-center evaluation.

Setting: A university hospital intensive care unit.

Patients: Eighteen patients after liver transplantation.

Interventions: Pulmonary artery catheters were placed in all patients, and ICO and CCO were determined using thermodilution. APCO measurements were made with the Vigileo System (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, CA).

Measurements and Main Results: The authors obtained 126 data pairs of ICO and APCO and 864 pairs of CCO and APCO. ICO data were collected after intensive care unit admission and every 8 hours until the 48th postoperative hour. CCO and APCO data were collected every hour from admission until the 48th postoperative hour. Bias and precision were 0.95 ± 1.41 L/min for ICO versus APCO and 1.29 ± 1.28 L/min for CCO and APCO. Bias and precision for cardiac output (CO) data pairs less than 8 L/min were 0.32 ± 1.14 L/min between ICO and APCO and 0.71 ± 0.98 L/min between CCO and APCO. For CO data pairs higher than 8 L/min, bias and precision were 1.79 ± 1.54 L/min between ICO and APCO and 2.25 ± 1.14 L/min between CCO and APCO.

Conclusions: APCO enables the assessment of CO with clinically acceptable bias and precision. At higher CO levels, APCO underestimates PAC measurements and it is not as reliable as thermodilution in hyperdynamic liver transplant patients.