Cardiac output (CO) measurement has long been considered essential to the assessment and guidance of therapeutic decisions in critically ill patients and for patients undergoing certain high-risk surgeries. Despite controversies, complications and inherent errors in measurement, pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) continuous and intermittent bolus techniques of CO measurement continue to be the gold standard. Newer techniques provide less invasive alternatives; however, currently available monitors are unable to provide central circulation pressures or true mixed venous saturations. Esophageal Doppler and pulse contour monitors can predict fluid responsiveness and have been shown to decrease postoperative morbidity. Many minimally invasive techniques continue to suffer from decreased accuracy and reliability under periods of hemodynamic instability, and so few have reached the level of interchangeability with the PAC.
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