title: Left atrial and pulmonary artery wedge pressure monitoring during balloon mitral valvuloplasty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We tested the accuracy of pulmonary artery wedge (PAW) pressure as a guide to the degree of pulmonary venous hypertension.
  
  
  METHODS
  Left atrial (LA) pressure and PAW pressure were analysed before and after balloon mitral valvuloplasty (BMV) in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Correlations between LA and PAW pressures for a wave, v wave and mean pressure were excellent before BMV (r=0.96, r=0.97 and r=0.99 respectively) and after BMV (r=0.98, r=0.98 and r=1.00 respectively). The fall in mean LA pressure (11.3 +/- 7.9 mm Hg) and in mean PAW pressure (11.1 +/- 7.9 mm Hg) also correlated well. Correlation was good both before and after BMV when subgrouping was done based on average pulmonary vascular resistance and average LA mean pressure in each group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is good correlation of PAW pressure with LA pressure even in the presence of pulmonary arterial or venous hypertension. It can replace LA pressure monitoring in any clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Puttaparthi, AP, India.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Krishnamoorthy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Radhakrishnan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shrivastava
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000379:methods*; D002404:Catheterization; D002648:Child; D006325:Heart Atria; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000503:physiopathology; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D008943:Mitral Valve / Q000503:physiopathology; D008946:Mitral Valve Stenosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery; D011669:Pulmonary Wedge Pressure