MONITORING OF CARDIAC-FUNCTION IN PATIENTS WITH A LEFT-VENTRICLE ASSIST DEVICE

In complex therapy of acute or chronic cardiac failure, the use of val ve-free centrifugal pumps or artificial heart ventricles takes place. In these cases, simultaneous monitoring of cardiac and pump performanc e is very important. In this study, an ultrasound dilution method base d on the registration of two dilution curves after intravenous injecti on of isotonic and hypertonic sodium solution was developed. Compariso n of total cardiac output (TCO), which included pump and heart output measured by thermodilution and ultrasound (TCOus) dilution, yielded TC Ous = 1.11TCOth - 0.54 (n = 13).