Repeatability of the acetylene rebreathing method in measuring cardiac output: influence of acetylene concentration

The acetylene rebreathing method is a reliable noninvasive method for estimation of cardiac output. However, the method is not commonly used for clinical purposes. This is due mainly to the fact that acetylene is explosive at concentrations above 2% and that acetylene at concentrations above 0.5% has an unpleasant taste. In the present study we have investigated whether it is possible to reduce the concentration of acetylene to 0.3% in the rebreathing bag without degrading the repeatability of the estimated cardiac output. The problem was elucidated theoretically and experimentally. A theoretical investigation was carried out by producing an acetylene rebreathing curve from a single alveolus lung model. The theoretical study showed that the random noise arising from the gas analyzer gives rise to less than 10% of the total variation of the estimated cardiac output. The results of the experimental study showed that it is possible to reduce the acetylene concentration to 0.3% without decreasing the reproducibility of the acetylene rebreathing method.