Does stroke volume measured by pulsed ultrasound Doppler and M-mode echocardiography correlate with thermodilution in patients with a Swan-Ganz catheter?
Pulsed ultrasound Doppler combined with M-mode echocardiography provides a non-invasive method to measure stroke volume and cardiac output.
The velocity of the bloodstream in the ascending aorta was measured by pulsed ultrasound Doppler. The diameter of the aorta was measured by M-mode echocardiography. Forty-three measurements were performed in six patients, who all had a Swan-Ganz catheter. The calculated stroke volumes from the Doppler-Echo method were compared with the stroke volumes measured by the thermodilution technique, which was performed simultaneously with the Doppler measurements. The correlation between the measurements was good (r = 0.08). It is concluded that it is possible non-invasively to measure stroke volume (and cardiac output) by means of ultrasound Doppler and an echocardiograph.
Lang‐Jensen et al. (1983) studied this question.