Hemodynamic monitoring of the critically ill neonate: An eye on the future

Summary By continuous assessment of dynamic changes in systemic and regional perfusion during transition to extrauterine life and beyond, comprehensive neonatal hemodynamic monitoring creates numerous opportunities for both clinical and research applications. In particular, it has the potential of providing additional details about physiologic interactions among the key hemodynamic factors regulating systemic blood flow and blood flow distribution along with the subtle changes that are frequently transient in nature and would not be detected without such systems in place. The data can then be applied for predictive mathematical modeling and validation of physiologically realistic computer models aiming to identify patient subgroups at higher risk for adverse outcomes and/or predicting the response to a particular perturbation or therapeutic intervention. Another emerging application that opens an entirely new era in hemodynamic research is the use of the physiometric data obtained by the monitoring and data acquisition systems in conjunction with genomic information.