A non-invasive method for measuring cardiac output: the effect of Christmas lunch.

Cardiac output was measured in ten patients at routine cardiac catheterisation and three patients with severe heart failure by means of a carbon dioxide rebreathing technique with a computer-assisted mass spectrometer and compared with cardiac output measured by thermodilution. There was a close correlation (r = 0.96, p less than 0.01) between the two methods. Cardiac output measured by the carbon dioxide rebreathing technique increased after a typical Christmas lunch by a mean of 1.6 1/min in a group of healthy volunteers.