Portable ultrasound assessment of jugular venous pressure is an accurate method for estimating volaemic status in patients with cardiac disease

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to determine whether ultrasound-measured jugular venous pressure (U-JVP) could accurately estimate central venous pressure (CVP). METHODS: This prospective, diagnostic, single-centre study was performed at the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit of the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK. Post-cardiac surgery patients were recruited from January to May 2019. The investigators were blinded to the central venous pressure when measuring the jugular venous pressure. U-JVP and direct CVP were measured simultaneously. Measurements were taken whilst the patient was ventilated and then repeated when the patient was extubated, providing non-ventilated readings. RESULTS: One-hundred and fourteen consecutive participants with a male predominance of 71% and mean age of 65 ± 12 years were included in the analysis. Bland–Altman plots revealed that U-JVP marginally overestimated CVP by 0.91 mmHg (95% limits of agreement were −2.936 to 4.754) in ventilated patients and by 0.11 mmHg (95% limits of agreement between −2.481 and 2.695) in non-ventilated patients. Reasonable sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound-measured jugular venous pressure was achieved for low and high central venous pressure in both ventilated and non-ventilated patients. CONCLUSION: U-JVP accurately estimates cardiac filling pressure and fluid status in patients after cardiac surgery, irrespective of their ventilatory status. Jugular venous pressure measurement by insonation is a reliable technique that can be taught to medical students and other health professionals to non-invasively estimate central venous pressure and may be useful for assessment of volaemic status in patients with heart failure. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov public (identifier NCT03815188). GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40477-022-00654-7.