Hemodynamic Evaluation of Preload Responsiveness in Children by Using PiCCO

One of the ongoing challenges in critical care has been determining adequate fluid resuscitation. Overly aggressive volume expansion may produce deleterious effects, especially in patients with respiratory, renal and/or cardiac failure. Since the clinical ability to judge hemodynamic parameters is known to be poor, the determination of variables that would predict response to fluid challenge would be important for clinical decision-making.

Traditional measures of preload (CVP, PAOP) are now known to be incapable to assess the volume status and fluid responsiveness, especially in children.

There are two kinds of reasons for explaining the failure of markers of preload to predict volume responsiveness: the first reason is that the markers commonly used at the bedside are not always accurate measures of cardiac preload; the second reason is that an assessment of preload is not an assessment of preload responsiveness.

The rapid determination of hemodynamic status offered by noninvasive hemodynamic devices as PICCO2 would allow tailoring of volume expansion necessary in hypoperfusion states to increase left ventricular volume and cardiac output. Studies in critically ill adults patients have demonstrated that passive leg raising autotransfusion and functional hemodynamic monitoring, by using pulse contour analysis, are reliable in the detection of fluid responsiveness. However, currently we have very few studies in pediatric patients using arterial pulse contour analysis and transpulmonary thermodilution, which does not allow the rational application of the hemodynamic variables for guiding fluid resuscitation.

This study pretend to assess 1) the value of dynamics and static indices of preload, and its combination with contractility and lung water indices, as predictors of fluid responsiveness in both spontaneously breathing and mechanically ventilated pediatric patients and 2) the value of stroke volume and pulse pressure changes during passive leg raising autotransfusion, as predictors of fluid responsiveness in pediatric patients.