Intensive Care Network Podcasts

The goal of hemodynamic monitoring is to assess the cardiovascular state of the patient, define their reserve and monitor response to treatments and time.  Resuscitation efforts are essentially aimed at restoring and sustaining tissue wellness through maintaining an adequate amount of oxygenated blood flow to the metabolically active tissues. We need to monitor pressure, flow and function. To accomplish these goals one must be able to measure arterial pressure and all its components (i.e. waveforms), cardiac output and stroke volume as well as the adequacy of flow. Presently, there are several devices that can estimate the arterial pressure waveform from a finger plethysmographic device. They are very accurate until profound circulatory collapse makes peripheral pulse not representative of central pressures. These devices can also estimate stroke volume by intuiting the arterial pressure waveform in a fashion similar to that performed by the numerous minimally invasive hemodynamic monitoring devices we now ha