Pulmonalarterienkatheter in der Anästhesiologie und operativen Intensivmedizin: Eine Bestandsaufnahme

Following the introduction of alternative systems for the monitoring of cardiac output, the increasing use of echocardiography, and observational data questioning the usefulness of right heart catherization in the critically ill, there is ongoing controversy about the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). This is astonishing since the PAC is by far the most comprehensive hemodynamic monitoring system and – if used in the context of perioperative goal-directed hemodynamic optimization – among the few instruments in intensive care medicine validated by evidence-based criteria. The present article gives an overview about methodological aspects of hemodynamic monitoring with the PAC, the current literature about the usefulness of this monitoring technique in various clinical fields, and perspectives for the use of the PAC in the future.