Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthésie
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The current bedside "gold standard" for cardiac output (CO) monitoring is thermodilution using a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) but there is a number of risks associated with its use. The primary objective of this review was to evaluate the utility of esophageal Doppler (ED) as a minimally invasive monitor of CO. ⋯ ED is a practical, reliable, and valid device for measuring CO in perioperative and critically ill patients. Further studies with larger numbers of patients are needed to determine if the limited precision observed is inherent to the technique, the diagnoses of patients studied, or the small sample sizes.