Estimation of Cardiac Output by Rapidly Repeated Dye-Dilution Technic

Abstract

Injection of 0.5 mg of a tricarbocyanine dye into the left atrium of anesthetized dogs every 5-8 sec. (phased with respiration) results in reproducible dye-dilution curves during cardiovascular equilibrium. The calculated cardiac output does not vary from determination to determination more than [plus or minus] 5%. The method is useful in the investigation of problems requiring rapidly repeated estimations of cardiac output.