The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 23, 169-172, Copyright © 1977 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
A monitor for the continuous assessment of left ventricular performance after open-heart operations
AE Farnsworth, TA Angerpointner, GJ Lewis, PR Bourne and BT Williams
A cardiac monitoring system has been developed that incorporated phasic
aortic blood flow measurement by an extractable electromagnetic flow probe
and high-fidelity arterial blood pressure recordings. Cardiac output,
stroke volume, and peak aortic blood flow are measured continuously; using
logarithmic amplifiers, the pressure-flow derivatives of left ventricular
function, such as cardiac power and stroke work, are obtained beat by beat.
This monitor is used to follow the postoperative course of patients
undergoing cardiac operations and to evaluate the hemodynamic effect of
therapeutic agents.