International anesthesiology clinics
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Int Anesthesiol Clin · Jan 1993
Review Comparative StudyFluid and divalent cation therapy in the critically ill patient.
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Int Anesthesiol Clin · Jan 1993
ReviewClinical utilization of pulmonary artery catheter monitoring.
Since the introduction of PA catheter monitoring in 1970, the applications for it have dramatically broadened. PA catheters are used to obtain hemodynamic data for the assessment, monitoring, and therapeutic management of critically ill, high-risk surgical patients. Because of potential complications associated with PA catheter monitoring, numerous editorials and articles have questioned the procedure's risk-to-benefit ratio. ⋯ Problems may stem not from technology but from the knowledge and expectations of clinicians. "Human" complications from inadequate understanding of the physiological data is not uncommon. Measured pressures by themselves can be misleading; indeed use of absolute numbers rather than trends or relative changes in the values monitored can compromise clinical assessment. Overzealous acceptance and utilization of any quantitative measurement without sound clinical judgment is fraught with failure.