Noninvasive cardiac output determined with a new method based on gas exchange measurements and carbon dioxide rebreathing: a study in animals/pigs.

A system has been designed to determine cardiac output noninvasively. The system's main component is a closed breathing circuit and it measures oxygen uptake (VO2), carbon dioxide elimination (VCO2), and end-tidal CO2 partial pressure (PET). As an integral part of the system, periods of CO2 rebreathing can be automatically implemented. The CO2 partial pressure of oxygenated mixed venous blood (Pv) is obtained from the measured exponential rise of the PET value during such a CO2 rebreathing maneuver. A new method is described for estimating the pulmonary blood flow, alveolar ventilation, cardiac output (CO), and mixed venous oxygen saturation (SVO2) from PV, PET, VO2, VCO2, tidal volume, and arterial oxygen saturation. The method was evaluated in 6 anesthetized and mechanically ventilated pigs. A wide range of cardiac output, shunt fractions, and dead space to tidal volume ratios were induced by combinations of bronchoalveolar lavage, hypervolemia, hypovolemia, and variable levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). The bias between the CO obtained with the noninvasive technique (CO L/min) and the thermodilution CO (Qt L/min) was 0.13 L/min (SD = 0.78 L/min) and the correlation was N = 64; R = 0.92; CO = 0.95*Qt + 0.38. The bias obtained for double determinations with the noninvasive CO technique was 0.3 L/min (SD = 0.5 L/min). The bias between the noninvasive estimates of Svo2 and the directly measured values was 1.1% (SD = 9.3%). For double determination with the noninvasive technique the bias was -0.9% (SD = 4.7%). It is concluded that in mechanically ventilated pigs the proposed method produces good estimates of CO and SVO2 also in the presence of significant ventilation/perfusion mismatch.