Predicting the response of cardiac output (CO) to volume administration remains difficult, in particular in patients with acutely compromised cardiac function, where, even small amounts of i.v. fluids can lead to volume overload. We compared the ability to predict volume responsiveness of different functional haemodynamic parameters, such as pulse pressure variation (PPV), stroke volume variation (SVV), the static preload parameter right atrial pressure (RAP), and global end-diastolic volume (GEDV) with the recently proposed respiratory systolic variation test (RSVT) in acutely impaired cardiac function.
