Is It Time to Take a Critical Look at Noninvasive Approaches to Measuring Filling Pressures?
From the Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass. Correspondence to Scott D. Solomon, MD, Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women s Hospital, 75 Francis St, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail ssolomon{at}rics.bwh.harvard.edu’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–> Key Words: Editorials echocardiography heart failure pressure The ability to measure pressures within the heart has been one of the most important diagnostic and therapeutic tools within the cardiologist s armamentarium over the past half century. Whereas this measurement initially required direct left ventricular puncture,1 transeptal catheterization,2 or retrograde placement of a catheter into the left ventricle, the advent of the Swan-Ganz catheter allowed for accurate estimation of left-sided filling pressures without requiring arterial or intraventricular access. These measurements have been useful to diagnose and treat hemodynamic compromise resulting from cardiac and pulmonary disease and
