BMJ 1996;313:1328 (23 November)

Letters

Pulmonary artery catheterisation

Catheterisation is useful when used by experienced clinicians

EDITOR,--Neil Soni's editorial arguing for re-evaluation of the use of pulmonary artery catheters1 seems to be of far more value than the study in JAMA that it discusses.2 I agree with Soni that the study's method, in terms of retrospective matching of controls, is unreliable. I would also add several other criticisms. Most importantly, the study did not address the question of what was done with the catheters after they had been placed, or by whom the derived information was used.

All too often, catheters are introduced at the request of senior staff but, once in place, are used for assessment of cardiac output only once or twice a day. Often the data obtained are not acted on immediately by senior staff working in intensive care; instead, junior staff react to them with varying degrees of appropriateness. It is not surprising that . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Swan song for the Swan-Ganz catheter?
Neil Soni
BMJ 1996 313: 763-764. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Young, J.D. (2001). Editorial I: Right heart catheterization in intensive care. Br J Anaesth 86: 327-329 [Full text]  
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