Korean J Anesthesiol.  1997 Nov;33(5):953-956. 10.4097/kjae.1997.33.5.953.

The Use of Transesophageal Echocardiography for Pulmonary Artery Catheter Placement: Two cases

• Lee BH
• Chea JS
• Kim CJ
• Chung MY
• Seo SH

• KMID: 2154493
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.1997.33.5.953

Abstract

The transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been used for the assessment of right and left ventricular function, valvular structure and function, regional wall motion abnormalities and localization of intravascular catheters, cannular and prosthesis. We inserted the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) under the guidance of intraoperative TEE because of the difficulty of placing PAC with the pressure tracing method in two patients. The PAC was inserted from right atrium to right ventricle with the basal four chamber view and advanced to pulmonary artery through pulmonary valve with the longitudinal view of TEE. We observed typical pulmonary arterial wave form to confirm the correct position. We suggest that the TEE can be used for successful placement of a PAC to facilitate manipulation of the catheter as an alternative method in the patients whose PAC can not be positioned with the pressure tracing method.

Keyword

Measurement techniques, pulmonary arterial, transesophageal echocardiography

MeSH Terms

Catheters*
Echocardiography, Transesophageal*
Heart Atria
Heart Ventricles
Humans
Prostheses and Implants
Pulmonary Artery*
Pulmonary Valve
Ventricular Function, Left