Clinical validation of minimally invasive evaluation of systolic function

Pulse contour continuous cardiac output (PiCCO) monitoring by means of transpulmonary thermodilution provides 2 indices of systolic function: the cardiac function index and the global ejection fraction. Our aim was to compare these 2 PiCCO indices to the left-ventricular ejection fraction obtained by transthoracic echocardiography. This was a prospective clinical study of 35 adult patients in the critical care unit of a university hospital. Each patient provided his or her own control data. Patients with marked changes in regional segment contractility or nonsinus rhythm were excluded. We collected patient variables, reason for admission to the critical care unit, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, the reason for hemodynamic monitoring, and the infusion of vasoactive drugs at the time of the procedure. Statistically significant correlations were found between the left-ventricular ejection fraction and the global ejection fraction (r=0.79, P