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Determination of intravascular volume status in critically ill patients using portable chest X-rays: measurement of the vascular pedicle width
Critical Care volume 11, Article number: P282 (2007)
Introduction
Traditionally invasive haemodynamic measurements of pulmonary artery occlusion pressures have been used to assess the volume status in critically ill patients. The vascular pedicle, as seen on chest X-ray scan, is the mediastinal silhouette of the great vessels. We hypothesized that the vascular pedicle width (VPW) on supine, portable chest X-ray scans could be used to predict intravascular volume overloaded status in critically ill patients.
Methods
We conducted a prospective, blinded observational trial where both pulmonary artery occlusion pressures (PAOP) and VPWs were measured in patients admitted to the ICU. We used measurements of PAOP ≥ 18 mmHg as indicative of a fluid overloaded state, and measurements of PAOP < 18 mmHg as normal or low volume states. Standardized, portable chest X-ray scans in the supine position were obtained within 1 hour of PAOP measurement. Receiver-operating characteristics (ROC) curves were constructed using different cutoffs of the VPW measurement to identify sensitivities and specificities for each value (see Figure 1).
Results
Measurements were obtained from 50 patients. Using ROC-derived cutoffs, a VPW measurement of 74.5 mm was found to have a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 78% for correctly predicting a fluid overloaded state.
Conclusion
These results suggest that serial measurements of the VPW can reliably be used to predict intravascular volume overload in the ICU.
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Salahuddin, N., Chishti, I. & Siddiqui, S. Determination of intravascular volume status in critically ill patients using portable chest X-rays: measurement of the vascular pedicle width. Crit Care 11 (Suppl 2), P282 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1186/cc5442
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/cc5442