Radial Mean Arterial Pressure Reliably Reflects Femoral Mean Arterial Pressure in Uncomplicated Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

ObjectiveTo see if radial mean arterial pressure reliably reflects femoral mean arterial pressure in uncomplicated pediatric cardiac surgery.DesignAn ethics committee-approved prospective interventional study.SettingOperating room of a tertiary care hospital.ParticipantsForty-five children aged 3 months to 4 years who underwent pediatric cardiac surgery with hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.Measurements and Main ResultsSimultaneous femoral and radial arterial pressures were recorded at 10-minute intervals intraoperatively. A pressure gradient>5 mmHg was considered to be clinically significant. The patients' mean age was 14±11 months and and mean weight was 8.0±3.0 kg. A total of 1,816 simultaneous measurements of arterial pressure from the radial and femoral arteries were recorded during the pre-cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiopulmonary bypass, and post-cardiopulmonary bypass periods, including 520 (29%) systolic arterial pressures, 520 (29%) diastolic arterial pressures, and 776 (43%) mean arterial pressures. The paired mean arterial pressure measurements across the 3 periods were significantly and strongly correlated, and this was true for systolic arterial pressures and diastolic arterial pressures as well (r>0.93 and p<0.001 for all). Bland-Altman plots demonstrated good agreement between femoral and radial mean arterial pressures during the pre-cardiopulmonary bypass, cardiopulmonary bypass, and post-cardiopulmonary bypass periods. A significant radial-to-femoral pressure gradient was observed in 150 (8%) of the total 1,816 measurements. These gradients occurred most frequently between pairs of systolic arterial pressure measurements (n = 113, 22% of all systolic arterial pressures), followed by mean arterial pressure measurements (n = 28, 4% of all mean arterial pressures) and diastolic arterial pressures measurements (n = 9, 2% of all diastolic arterial pressures). These significant gradients were not sustained (ie, were not recorded at 2 or more successive time points).ConclusionsThe results suggested that radial mean arterial pressure provided an accurate estimate of central mean arterial pressure in uncomplicated pediatric cardiac surgery. There was a significant gradient between radial and femoral mean arterial pressure measurements in only 4% of the mean arterial pressure measurements, and these significant gradients were not sustained.