Diagnostic Accuracy of the Central Venous Pressure (CVP) Variation to Predict Fluid Responsiveness in Spontaneously Breathing Patients

Volume expansion (VE) is often administered in intensive care (ICU)-patient to improve arterial oxygen delivery. Such effect is secondary to an increase in stroke volume and cardiac output. However, cardiac output increase in response to VE (fluid responsiveness) only occurs when the heart is preload-dependant. Increasing evidence of the deleterious effects of inappropriate fluid administration encourages the development of variables predicting fluid responsiveness, but few have been validated in spontaneously breathing patients. Central venous pressure (CVP) variation in spontaneously patients during standardized or unstandardized inspiratory maneuver may represent an easy tool to predict fluid responsiveness. The hypothesise is that inspiratory maneuver may increase CVP variation in fluid responsiveness patient whereas no or few variation may reflect fluid unresponsiveness.