The Anatomic Structure of Pulmonary Arteries as a Source of Unreliability in Thermodilution Cardiac Output Measurement

One of the most fundamental examination in intensive care medicine is cardiac output measurement, realized by pulmonary artery catherization. The thermodilution cardiac output estimation method is not resistant to various kinds of disturbances, which significantly decreases its sensitivity and specificity. The paper depicts investigations related to analysis of presumable new source of unreliability - asymmetric blood flow through pulmonary vessels. The investigations consisted of two phases: clinical examination (to obtain anatomical data) and computer modeling (to simulate the flow symmetry).