Non-invasive Cardiac Output by Transthoracic Electrical Bioimpedence in Post-cardiac Surgery Patients: Comparison with Thermodilution Method

Objective Thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) cardiac output (CO) is being explored increasingly as a non-invasive alternative to the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). This study compared TEB-CO measured using a new instrument – NICOMON (Larsen & Toubro Ltd. India) with thermodilution (Td) CO in post-cardiac surgery patients. Methods Postoperative cardiac surgical patients requiring a PAC for their management were studied. TEB-CO was measured by passing a 4 mA RMS alternating current across the chest and measuring the analog bioimpedence across the thorax. Kubicek equation was used to estimate TEB-CO. Td-CO was measured using a PAC. Bland-Altman analysis was used to compare paired data. Results One hundred and ninety-seven pairs of CO measurements were made by the two methods among 35 patients. Mean TEB-CO was 5.15 ± 1.27 l/min and mean Td-CO was 5.22 ± 1.28 l/min. Pearson correlation coefficient (r) for these measurements was 0.856 ( P < 0.01), with bias −0.0651 l and precision: ±1.37 l/min. The percentage error of measurement of this precision was 26.44%. Cardiac index also correlated among the two methods ( r = 0.789; P = 0.01). Conclusions Thoracic electrical bioimpedance cardiac output compares favorably with thermodilution method among post-cardiac surgery patients. Further studies are indi- cated with this instrument to validate its efficacy in various clinical situations and utility in monitoring hemodynamic interventions.