Pro-Con Debate: We should not Measure Cardiac output in Critical Care

Abstract

The measurement of cardiac output in critical care appears to be increasingly common. However, both the monitoring technologies and the therapeutic approaches they inform have often proved highly controversial. As the range of alternative technologies available continues to increase, it seems worthwhile to question whether this monitoring modality should be used at all. The aim of this pro-con debate is to review the key evidence and to explain the often quite widely differing interpretations placed upon it. The term cardiac output monitoring refers to technology, whose primary purpose is to monitor global blood flow. The principles of the various technologies have been reviewed elsewhere.1