Effect of tricuspid regurgitation on the reliability of the thermodilution cardiac output technique in congestive heart failure

The accuracy of the thermodilution cardiac output technique in the presence of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) has been challenged.1 TR is common in patients with advanced congestive heart failure (CHF), for whom baseline cardiac output and changes in cardiac output frequently influence therapy. To establish the reliability of the thermodilution method in this setting, we compared simultaneous thermodilution and Fick oximetric cardiac output measurements in patients with advanced CHF before and after acute vasodilator therapy.