• Simultaneously recorded left atrial and pulmonary artery wedge pressures demonstrate that the left atrial pressure pulse can be transmitted across the pulmonary capillary bed and recorded by the wedged catheter." However, such satisfactory wedge tracings are not always obtainable, and in many trials the tracing is featureless, damped or distorted by artifacts and obviously is not a true refle...

OBJECTIVE To correlate the values generated by direct total blood volume measurement with pulmonary artery catheter parameters and commonly used laboratory values in the management of critically ill patients. METHODS This study was carried out at the Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America, during the period 1998-1999. We prospectively correlated the total blood ...

Cardiac catheterization of a 79-year-old woman with systemic sclerosis demonstrated severe pulmonary arterial hypertension: a peak systolic pulmonary pressure of 99 mmHg and a mean pulmonary artery pressure of 51 mmHg without an increase in the mean pulmonary capillary wedge pressure. Pulsus alternans was detected in the right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary artery (PA), but not in the pulmonary a...

Lung toxicity arising from the chemotherapeutic agent bleomycin typicallymanifests a spectrumof chronic pulmonary syndromes including interstitial pneumonitis, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, eosinophilic pneumonia and progressive interstitial fibrosis. We report a rare case of acute pulmonary hypertension associated with bleomycin administration, which emphasises the clinical relevance and appli...

Increased left ventricular filling pressure is a hallmark of heart failure (HF) caused by left ventricular dysfunction (LVD). Within the closed hemodynamic system, increased LV filling pressure results in elevated pressures in the left atrium and pulmonary venous vasculature. When pulmonary hypertension (PH, defined by mean pulmonary artery pressure [mPAP] 25 mm Hg) is associated with an abnorm...

BACKGROUND Cinaciguat (BAY 58-2667) is the first of a new class of soluble guanylate cyclase activators in clinical development for acute decompensated heart failure. We aimed to assess the hemodynamic effects, safety, and tolerability of intravenous cinaciguat in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (pulmonary capillary wedge pressure > or =18 mm Hg). METHODS AND RESULTS After ini...

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a hemodynamic state defined by a resting mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) at or above 25 mm Hg.[1] with normal left ventricular filling pressure (mean pulmonary wedge pressure) 15 mmHg or less. Pre-capillary PH is defined as mean PAP ≥25 mm Hg in association with PAOP ≤15 mm Hg and a pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) >3 Wood units. This include group 1, 3, 4...

The current studies were designed to investigate the mechanisms in the intact anesthetized dog that control the release of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF). In vitro, mechanical stretch of atrial tissue produces an increased release of ANF. In vivo, changes in atrial pressure correlate positively with circulating ANF levels. The present investigations used 6 open-chest anesthetized dogs to evalu...

BACKGROUND Accurate assessment of volume status is essential in diagnosis and guidance of decongestive therapy in patients with acute heart failure. We sought to compare peripheral venous pressure (PVP) with central venous pressure (CVP), as well as other invasive hemodynamic measurements, in patients hospitalized with an acute heart failure syndrome. METHODS AND RESULTS PVP-HF (Peripheral Ve...