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Echocardiographic Control of Swan-Ganz Catheters

1980; Elsevier BV; Volume: 77; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1378/chest.77.3.380

1931-3543

Wolfgang Kasper, Thomas Meinertz, Friedrich Kerstin, H. Just, H. Wollschläger, Carl-Johannes Schuster, Hans Peter Schuster,

Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research

In 68 patients, subxiphoidal, percordial, and suprasternal echocardiography was used to trace the Swan-Ganz catheter during its passage to the pulmonary artery and to localize its position. The localization of the catheter could be exactly identified in 62 out of 68 patients in whom we managed to obtain a suprasternal echocardiogram. In one patient, the catheter was found (by chest x-ray film) in the left pulmonary artery (LPA) and was regarded to be in the right pulmonary artery according to suprasternal echocardiography. In two patients, the catheter could not be localized by suprasternal echocardiography although it was positioned in the LPA. In three patients, the catheters could not be advanced to the pulmonary circulation and were visualized within the right ventricular cavity by precordial and subxihpoid echocardiogarphy. Thus, echocardiography, particularly the suprasternal approach, has proven a safe, reliable, and easy way for position control of Swan-Ganz catheters.