Three tool compounds with known effects on cardiac output were administered to conscious beagle dogs to determine if the non-invasive PhysioFlow® system could detect the expected changes in stroke volume and cardiac output as determined by literature references using the current standard methodologies (e.g. aortic blood flow and thermodilution).
The PhysioFlow® system was able to detect increases in cardiac output when dosed with 20 μg/kg of Dobutamine, a decrease in cardiac output when dosed with 0.1 mg/kg of Acepromazine, and no significant change in cardiac output when dosed with 2 mg/kg of Minoxidil. These results are within expected ranges based on published literature (Stepien et al., 1995; Taylor et al., 2007).
PhysioFlow®, a signal morphology-based impedance cardiography, can be utilized to reliably and non-invasively measure cardiac output in beagle dogs.