A COMPARISON OF PULMONARY AND FEMORAL-ARTERY THERMODILUTION CARDIAC INDEXES IN PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE-CARE PATIENTS

We assessed the agreement between pulmonary artery and femoral artery (COLD) thermodilution measurements of the cardiac index (Cl) in a grou p of paediatric intensive care patients. The COLD method gave consiste ntly higher cardiac index values than the pulmonary artery catheter (P AC); however, the difference was small, with a mean value of 0.191/min (-1) m(-2) or 4.4% of the mean cardiac index. This difference is not c linically important and suggests that, under these circumstances, the COLD system provides an acceptable alternative to the pulmonary artery catheter for measurement of the cardiac index at the bedside.