A reappraisal for the use of pulmonary artery catheters

Excerpt

The history of the pulmonary artery catheter spans almost 90 years from the first reported cardiac catheterization by Werner Forssmann (on himself!) in 1929. Some 25 years later, a balloon-tipped catheter was developed by Lategola and Rahn [1] and used in dogs, but the name of the catheter (and much of the credit for its invention) went to Swan and Ganz, whose now famous paper on the use of a balloon-tipped catheter to catheterize the pulmonary artery was published in 1970 [2]. The innovative use of the balloon to guide the catheter made this a huge advance for cardiology and haemodynamic monitoring and management. Since that date, the pulmonary artery (Swan-Ganz) catheter (PAC) has changed little in size or structure, and has become one of the most widely used pieces of equipment in the intensive care unit (ICU). …