DescriptionCardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality in industrialized world. Stroke volume (SV) and blood pressure are the primary indicators used to monitor cardiovascular health. This thesis investigated how stroke volume can be calculated from various pulse contour methods (PCM) and evaluated their merits in establishing minimally invasive approach to provide continuous, hence beat-to-beat evaluation of overall cardiovascular function.
Aortic blood pressure (P) and flow (Q) data collected from previous experiments were analyzed. Intravenous vasoconstrictor and vasodilator were used to alter P and Q waveforms. Each of the 7 different PCM predicted SV were statistically compared against measured SV. The correlation coefficients of the 7 PCMS were 0.9596-0.9976 in regression analysis, suggesting they are relatively accurate. The highest was the PP (Pulse Pressure) Method and the lowest was the original Warner Method. In the Band-Altman analysis, all the data in the Herd method fall within the confidence interval. The result of the original Warner Method and PP Method is that more than 5% of the points fall outside the confidence interval, that is, the accuracy of the result is low. Thus, most of the PCM selected in this thesis have accurate and credible results for measuring stroke volume. However, the accuracy of the original Warner Method and PP method is questionable.
This thesis also used derived SV to calculate other important hemodynamic parameters, such as cardiac output, arterial compliance, stroke volume variation (SVV) and pulse pressure variation (PPV). All of which are considered of utmost importance in clinical diagnosis and evaluation of drug treatment efficacy.