Evaluation of ultrasonic technology for monitoring children's cardiac output

Abstract

Objective To explore the accuracy of the ultrasonic cardiac output monitor(USCOM) device for estimation of children's cardiac output.Methods We conducted a prospective study in Beijing Children's Hospital.Sixty healthy children were enrolled in this study.We evaluated the accuracy of USCOM monitor device in the measurement of cardiac output by comparing with the measurements obtained by the M-Teichholz formula and the Doppler aortic blood flow method.Results The data from the USCOM monitor device had better consistency with those from the M-Teichholz formula (r=0.88,P 0.05) between the two methods.The similar results were found between the USCOM method and the Doppler aortic blood flow method (r=0.83,P<0.05).Conclusion This study shows that cardiac output monitoring by USCOM is accurate,and USCOM is a promising technique in cardiac output monitoring.