TITLE:
Calibrating volume measurements made using the dual-field conductance catheter
AUTHORS:
Simon P. McGuirk, David Barron, Dan Ewert, John H. Coote
KEYWORDS:
Conductance Catheter; Calibration; Volume Measurement
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering,
Vol.2 No.7,
November
19,
2009
ABSTRACT: The conductance catheter technique allows real- time measurements of ventricular volume based on changes in the electrical conductance of blood within the ventricular cavity. Conductance volume measurements are corrected with a calibration coefficient, α, in order to improve accuracy. However, conductance volume measurements are also affected by parallel conductance, which may confound cali-bration coefficient estimation. This study was un-dertaken to examine the variation in α using a physical model of the left ventricle without parallel conductance. Calibration coefficients were calculated as the conductance-volume quotient (αV(t)) or the stroke conductance-stroke volume quotient (αSV). Both calibration coefficients varied as a non-linear function of the ventricular volume. Conductance volume measurements calibrated with αV(t) estimated ventricular volume to within 2.0 ± 6.9%. By contrast, calibration with αSV substantially over-estimated the ventricular volume in a volume-dependent manner, increasing from 26 ± 20% at 100ml to 106 ± 36% at 500ml. The accuracy of conductance volume measurements is affected by the choice of calibration coefficient. Using a fixed or constant calibration coeffi-cient will result in volume measurement errors. The conductance-stroke volume quotient is associated with particularly significant and volume-dependent measurement errors. For this reason, conductance volume measurements should ideally be calibrated with an alternative measurement of ventricular vol-ume.