Abstract
Objective—To evaluate the use of a lithium dilution cardiac output (LiDCO) technique for measurement of CO and determine the agreement between LiDCO and thermodilution CO (TDCO) values in anesthetized cats.
Animals—6 mature cats.
Procedure—Cardiac output in isoflurane-anesthetized cats was measured via each technique. To induce different rates of CO in each cat, anesthesia was maintained at > 1.5X end-tidal minimum alveolar concentration (MAC) of isoflurane and at 1.3X endtidal isoflurane MAC with or without administration of dobutamine (1 to 3 µg/kg/min, IV). At least 2 comparisons between LiDCO and TDCO values were made at each CO rate. The TDCO indicator was 1.5 mL of 5% dextrose at room temperature; with the LiDCO technique, each cat received 0.005 mmol of lithium/kg (concentration, 0.015 mmol/mL). Serum lithium concentrations were measured prior to the first and following the last CO determination.
Results—35 of 47 recorded comparisons were analyzed; via linear regression analysis (LiDCO vs TDCO values), the coefficient of determination was 0.91. The mean bias (TDCO-LiDCO) was –4 mL/kg/min (limits of agreement, –35.8 to +27.2 mL/kg/min). The concordance coefficient was 0.94. After the last CO determination, serum lithium concentration was < 0.1 mmol/L in each cat.
Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results indicated a strong relationship and good agreement between LiDCO and TDCO values; the LiDCO method appears to be a practical, relatively noninvasive method for measurement of CO in anesthetized cats. (Am J Vet Res 2005;66:1639–1645).
