Electrical cardiometry assessment of cardiac output compared to echocardiography in septic shock patients

Background Cardiac output (CO) measurement is essential for guiding therapeutic decisions in critically ill patients. Electrical cardiometry (EC), which is based on thoracic electrical bioimpedance, can measure CO in a continuous and noninvasive way. The benefits of EC are continuous monitoring, low time consumption, portability, and user independence. Transthoracic echocardiography has been a noninvasive method to assess CO despite being noncontiguous and operator dependent. Aim This study aimed to compare EC and echocardiography (Echo) in measuring CO in septic shock patients and assess the reliability and accuracy of EC for noninvasive CO monitoring. Patients and methods Fifty adult patients were admitted to the Critical Care Medicine Department, diagnosed with septic shock according to the surviving sepsis campaign, and fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria from January 2023 to October 2023, and they were subjected to EC, Echo, and ECG recording. Results There was a strong positive significant correlation between CO measurements by echo and EC ( r =0.988, P <0.001), and there was a strong positive significant correlation between stroke volume (SV) measurements by echo and EC ( r =0.999, P <0.001). Also, there was a strong positive significant correlation between SV and CO measured by both techniques ( r =0.782, P <0.001) ( r =0.790, P <0.001, respectively). Conclusion Compared to Echo, EC can be used as a continuous, noninvasive method for monitoring CO and SV, as it provides accurate and reliable measurements.