The measurement of lung water

Introduction: In this review, we compare the spectrum of currently availabl e methods for quantifying pulmonary edema in patients. Review: Imaging and indicator dilution techniques comprise the most common strategies for measuring lung water at the bedside. The most accurate (with in 10% of the gravimetric gold standard) and most reproducible (<5% between -test variation) are also, unfortunately, the most expensive and most diffi cult to implement for purposes of large-scale clinical trials or for routin e clinical practice. Conclusion: The standard chest radiograph remains the best screening test f or the detection of pulmonary edema. Indicator-dilution techniques are prob ably the best available method at present for quantitation in patient group s.