British journal of anaesthesia
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Comparative Study Retracted Publication
Semi-invasive monitoring of cardiac output by a new device using arterial pressure waveform analysis: a comparison with intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
Thermodilution technique using a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) is a widely used method to determine cardiac output (CO). It is increasingly criticized because of its invasiveness and its unclear risk-benefit ratio. Thus, less invasive techniques for measuring CO are highly desirable. We compared a new, semi-invasive device (FloTrac/Vigileo) using arterial pressure waveform analysis for CO measurement in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with bolus thermodilution measurements. ⋯ In cardiac surgery patients, CO measured by a new semi-invasive arterial pressure waveform analysis device showed only moderate agreement with intermittent pulmonary artery thermodilution measurement.
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Suppression of nociceptive signalling in the thalamus is considered to contribute significantly to the anaesthetic state. Assuming additivity of anaesthetic mixtures, our study assessed the effects of corresponding minimum alveolar concentrations (MACs) of isoflurane and isoflurane/nitrous oxide on thalamic nociceptive signalling. ⋯ These data demonstrate a pronounced nitrous oxide-induced response variability. It appears that, with respect to thalamic transfer of nociceptive information, the interaction of isoflurane and nitrous oxide may not be compatible with the concept of additivity and that the antinociceptive potency of nitrous oxide is considerably less than previously reported.