PULMONARY ARTERY CATHETERIZATION

SUMMARY

1. Assess: right & left filling pressures, cardiac output, RV & PA pressures, and systemic & pulmonary vascular resistance.
2. Useful in determining a patient's volume status, causes of shock & pericardial disease.
3. The pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) is the dampened LA pressure that reflects left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) & LVED volume.

4. Pressure gradient = 4 * V² (velocity across an area)

Reference(s)

Wilkinson, I., Furmedge, D. and Sinharay, R. (2017). Oxford handbook of clinical medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Get it on Amazon.
Feather, A., Randall, D. and Waterhouse, M. (2020). Kumar And Clark’s Clinical Medicine. 10th ed. S.L.: Elsevier Health Sciences. Get it on Amazon.
Hannaman, R. A., Bullock, L., Hatchell, C. A., & Yoffe, M. (2016). Internal medicine review core curriculum, 2017-2018. CO Springs, CO: MedStudy.
Therapeutic Guidelines. Melbourne: Therapeutic Guidelines Limited. https://www.tg.org.au [Accessed 2021].