Continuous measurement of cardiac output by the Fick principle in infants and children: comparison with the thermodilution method.

To compare a system that continuously monitors cardiac output by the Fick principle with measurements by the thermodilution technique in pediatric patients.Prospective direct comparison of the above two techniques.Pediatric intensive care unit of a university hospital.25 infants and children, aged 1 week to 17 years (median 10 months), who had undergone open heart surgery were studied. Only patients without an endotracheal tube leak and without a residual shunt were included.The system based on the Fick principle uses measurements of oxygen consumption taken by a metabolic monitor and of arterial and mixed venous oxygen saturation taken by pulse- and fiberoptic oximetry to calculate cardiac…