Abstract
Transoesophageal Doppler cardiac output measurement was evaluated against the thermodilution method in eleven patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. A total of 106 pairs of Doppler and thermodilution values were obtained. Cardiac output was measured over a range of 2.3 l.min−1 to 11.5 l.min−1, The mean difference between the Doppler and thermodilution measures was −1.0 l.min−1 (thermodilution minus Doppler). Standard deviation was 1.8 l.min−1. This is a significant difference. It is concluded that these techniques do not agree when measuring cardiac outputs.
