This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.

Thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) is an alternative to invasive monitoring of hemodynamic parameters including cardiac output, stroke volume, and cardiac index. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requested a technology assessment by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) to evaluate data on the clinical effectiveness of thoracic electrical bioimpedance (TEB) for several cardiovascular applications. The Tufts-New England Medical Center was asked to conduct a technology assessment on the literature published since an earlier report published in 1992 by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now AHRQ).

Due to limitations in the studies, no meaningful conclusions can be drawn about the accuracy of TEB, compared to alternative measures of hemodynamic parameters. There is also little conclusive evidence regarding TEB's usefulness in the specific clinical areas addressed. This was largely due to the lack of focus on clinical outcomes by researchers in this area. The clinical reports on the use of TEB for a variety of clinical indications in reports published from 1991 onwards suggested that this non-invasive method is of interest and may potentially support some of these indications, but there is little evidence that directly addressed how this monitoring technique can affect patient outcomes.