What is a pulmonary artery catheter?
Your doctor can measure the pressure inside your heart by using a special catheter that can be inserted in the intensive care unit or cardiac cath lab. Your doctor may thread a small tube (catheter) through a vein in your neck and into the main blood vessel that leads to your lung, known as the pulmonary artery. Once it has reached a point in the artery where it can’t advance any farther, a balloon on the end of the catheter can be inflated to measure the pressure of blood inside your lungs beyond the catheter and to the left atrium within your heart. The catheter can also find out how much blood is being pumped with each contraction (cardiac output). The pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) can be left in your body for several hours or even days so that your doctor can monitor any changes in pressure within your heart after certain medicines are started. How does a PAC help heart failure? It is important for your doctor to know the pressures inside your heart because high pressures often a
