Inert Gas Rebreathing method enables non invasive measurement of cardiac output (CO) using the single rebreathing method. A mixture of blood soluble (N2O) and blood insoluble gas (SF6) and environmental air is inhaled and the amount of N2O, SF6, O2 and CO2 is measured by a photoacoustic analysator. The length of a measurement is about 1 minute.
As the gold standard measurement of CO is performed invasively, there is an urgent need for the development of non-invasive tools like IGR.