Monitoring high-risk patients: minimally invasive and non-invasive possibilities

Over the past decades, there has been considerable progress in the field of less invasive haemodynamic monitoring technologies. Substantial evidence has accumulated, which supports the continuous measurement and optimization of flow-based variables such as stroke volume, that is, cardiac output, in order to prevent occult hypoperfusion and consequently to improve patients' outcome in the perioperative setting. However, there is a striking gap between the developments in haemodynamic monitoring and the increasing evidence to implement defined treatment protocols based on the measured variables, and daily clinical routine. Recent trials have shown that perioperative morbidity and mortality is higher than anticipated. This emphasizes the need for the anaesthesia community to address this issue and promotes the implementation of proven concepts into clinical practice in order to improve patients' outcome, especially in high-risk patients. The advances in minimally invasive and non-invasive monitoring techniques can be seen as a driving force in this respect, as the degree of invasiveness of any monitoring tool determines the frequency of its application, especially in the operating room (OR). From this point of view, we are very confident that some of these minimally invasive and non-invasive haemodynamic monitoring technologies will become an inherent part of our monitoring armamentarium in the OR and in the intensive care unit (ICU).