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Excerpt To the editor: The recent article on the use of the Swan-Ganz catheter (1) prompted us to review our experience in a medical intensive care unit. Over the course of a 6-month period, one of...

Excerpt To the editor: We found the article by Robin (1) on the overuse and abuse of pulmonary flow catheters interesting and would agree that knowledge of risk-benefit ratios is sadly lacking. How...

Migration of a polyethylene catheter to the pulmonary artery has occurred on three occasions within a period of 9 months. Nonsurgical removal was accomplished in all cases with a snare dev...

Excerpt To the editor: In a recent perspective, Robin (1) criticizes the overuse and abuse of pulmonary arterial catheters. We share his concern about the indiscriminant use, the many risks, and th...

Excerpt To the editor: There is a strong possibility that the use of pulmonary artery flow (Swan-Ganz) catheters in patients with acute myocardial infarction is associated with a high rate of exces...

The use of pulmonary artery flow-directed catheters has assumed epidemic proportions without clinical trials establishing improved outcome as a result of their use. During the past 10 years, however, it has become clear that improved outcome is found only in small groups of patients and that use of these catheters is associated with considerable risks of morbidity and mortality. A clinical trial is urgently needed to assess the balance between risks and benefits. While awaiting such trials, physicians should limit catheter use to circumstances in which there is a large probability that the data will result in more effective management; the measurements should only be used to answer specific questions about patient therapy. This situation will occur in a relatively small number of patients.