title: The pulmonary artery catheter.
abstract: The pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) has been widely used for monitoring of critically ill patients over the years, but with advances in less invasive monitoring techniques, notably echocardiography, there are fewer indications for PAC insertion. Nevertheless, the PAC provides simultaneous monitoring of pulmonary artery pressures, cardiac filling, cardiac output and mixed venous oxygen saturation, and still has an important role in complex cases. Adequate and continued training are required to ensure that PAC-derived data are correctly interpreted and applied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care, Erasme Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. jlvincen@ulb.ac.be
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Vincent
mesh_terms: D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015924:Blood Pressure Monitors; D002302:Cardiac Output; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D010092:Oximetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood*; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000502:physiology*; D062666:Vascular Access Devices
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen