Role of the Pulmonary Artery Catheter in Integrated Management of Renal Cell Carcinoma With Significant Caval Extension of Tumor Thrombus

We thank Dr. Essandoh for his interest in our published case conference and his thoughtful comments regarding a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) for hemodynamic monitoring in patients with inferior vena cava tumor thrombus extending into the right atrium.1,2 As Dr. Essandoh has stated, the PAC obtains certain hemodynamic measurements that can be obtained readily with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), such as cardiac output.2 However, there also are continuous data provided by the PAC that cannot be obtained readily using TEE, such as central venous pressure, pulmonary artery pressure profiles, mixed venous oxygen saturation, and systemic vascular resistance.
Source: Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia - Category: Anesthesiology Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research