ABSTRACT
The clinical assessment and monitoring of the cardiovascular system is a fundamental necessity in severely injured and critically ill surgical patients to ensure optimal resuscitation and perfusion of organ systems. Traditional methods for cardiovascular evaluation were able to determine heart rate (HR), rhythm, and blood pressure using simple noninvasive means. The application of various invasive intravascular catheters then provided us with continuous pressure and flow measurements and was revolutionary to advanced hemodynamic monitoring. Now, current technological advances are returning to the development and perfection of noninvasive tools, with the hope that they will have the ability to acquire hemodynamic data with similar accuracy and reliability as invasive devices currently provide.
