fluid responsiveness

Changes in left ventricular preload can be measured by an accelerometer attached to the epicardium by assessing the changes in the first heart sound frequency. As end-diastolic volume and myocardial stiffness increases, the frequency of the myocardial vibrations associated with the first heart sound also increases and vice versa. We tested this hypothesis in an animal model with changing volume status and found that these novel accelerometer-based measurements were comparable to the current clinical standard methods, both to estimate preload and in identifying fluid responsiveness, i.e. a positive response to fluid administration. read more