Innovative Monitoring System Incorporates Hemodynamic Management

A new intensive care unit (ICU) patient monitoring system measures cardiopulmonary, circulatory, and organ function, as well as enabling hemodynamic management.

The Getinge (Getinge, Sweden) Maquet PulsioFlex Monitoring System is a flexible platform for hemodynamic monitoring adaptable to the patient's individual needs. It is accompanied by the pulse contour cardiac output (PiCCO) Module, which measures continuous cardiac output via pulse contour analysis, and intermittent cardiac output via transpulmonary thermodilution. PiCCO parameters include quantification of pulmonary edema, cardiac preload, several arterial access points (including for pediatric patients), precise, calibrated cardiac output, volumetric preload and afterload, contractility, and volume responsiveness.


Additional parameters allow for expanded assessment of pulmonary edema beyond the extravascular lung water index (ELWI) parameter; pulmonary vascular permeability index (PVPI), so as to distinguish between cardiogenic and permeability caused pulmonary edema; intrathoracic blood volume (ITBV); and contractility monitoring by measuring global ejection fraction (GEF) and the cardiac power output/cardiac power index (CPO/CPI), the strongest independent predictor of hospital mortality in patients with cardiogenic shock.

Maquet PulsioFlex also includes OrganView, a novel graphical overview that uses a traffic light system to identify out-of-range values, as well as three different calculated volume test methods – Fluid Challenge, Passive Leg Raising, and End Expiratory Occlusion – in order to help clinicians determine the patient's fluid responsiveness. It also can be configured to support Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, and is based on a modular setup that allows for future technology integration.

“We now have our own advanced hemodynamic patient monitoring system to offer hospitals to help their staff make more informed clinical decisions and provide high-quality care for critically ill patients,” said Greg Master, president of acute care therapies USA at Getinge. “Until now, the PiCCO Module was available only for use with patient monitoring systems from GE Healthcare and Philips Medical Systems.”

Hemodynamic monitoring combined with oxygen transport assessment is used to differentiate the relative magnitude of pulmonary and cardiovascular dysfunction that contributes to hypoxemia. All patients admitted to the ICU require standard basic hemodynamic monitoring, which includes an electrocardiogram (ECG), heart rate, blood pressure, central venous pressure, temperature, peripheral venous oxygen saturation, and blood gas analysis.