The researchers surveyed 463 European and American anesthesiologists and found that while 95 percent knew it was critically important for oxygen to reach all parts of a patient’s body during high-risk surgery, only 35 actually monitored cardiac output.
According to the study’s lead author, Maxime Cannesson, MD, associate professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, Irvine, there is no way to know whether oxygen is delivered appropriately to tissue without measuring cardiac output.
Most anesthesiologists who said they did not monitor cardiac output cited the invasive nature of the procedure or said they used other methods for monitoring the heart’s performance.
Read the HealthDay News report on cardiac monitoring during surgery.
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