REVIEW PAPER
Impedance cardiography – Old method, new opportunities. Part I. Clinical applications
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1
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Work Physiology and Ergonomics)
2
Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Poland
(Faculty of Medicine)
Corresponding author
Jadwiga Siedlecka
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Department of Work Physiology and Ergonomics, św. Teresy 8, 91-348 Łódź, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2015;28(1):27-33
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Monitoring of cardiovascular hemodynamic changes requires a very expensive and highly specialized equipment and skilled
medical personnel. Up to the present time, an inexpensive, non-invasive and easy-to-use method which, like Doppler echocardiography,
magnetic resonance angiography or radionuclide imaging, would assess hemodynamics of the cardiovascular
system was not available. A method known as impedance cardiography (ICG) or thoracic electrical bioimpedance cardiography
(TEBC) meets those criteria. It is non-invasive, which is of a particular advantage over the conventional methods that
require catheterization. As a result, the patient is not at risk of possible complications and the procedure is less expensive
and easier. Impedance cardiography, despite its non-invasive character, has not been so far extensively used for monitoring
of hemodynamic parameters in hospitalized patients. Various authors report that attempts have been continued to compare
the results from ICG and those obtained by other diagnostic methods. This paper presents the use of impedance cardiography
in diagnosis of hypertension, cardiac insufficiency, differentiating the causes of acute dyspnea, as well as in assessing
the effects of cardiac rehabilitation in patients with heart failure.