What Researchers Did
Researchers evaluated the feasibility and safety of transoesophageal Doppler (TED) monitoring of cardiac output (CO) during hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) in seven haemodynamically unstable patients with necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis.
What They Found
Transoesophageal Doppler (TED) monitoring was feasible and safe under hyperbaric conditions, with no equipment-related problems. Five out of seven patients showed an increase in cardiac output (CO) during HBOT, one remained stable, and one had a slight decrease. Overall, there was a significant mean CO increase of 1.7 L min-1 (95% CI 0.02 to 3.34 L min-1, P = 0.048) from treatment initiation to near-maximum duration.
What This Means for Canadian Patients
This study suggests that Canadian patients with necrotizing fasciitis requiring hyperbaric oxygen treatment could potentially benefit from continuous cardiac output monitoring using transoesophageal Doppler. This improved monitoring might allow for better management of their haemodynamic stability during a critical therapy.
Canadian Relevance
This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was conducted outside of Canada.
Study Limitations
A significant limitation of this study is the very small sample size of only seven patients.