Pulmonary artery catheter

Pulmonary artery catheters (or Swan-Ganz catheters) are balloon flotation catheters that can be inserted simply, quickly, with little training and without fluoroscopic guidance, at the bedside, even in the seriously ill patient. Historically they were widely used to measure right heart hemodynamic indices and pulmonary arterial and capillary wedge pressures. More recently their use has fallen out of favor, due to adverse trial data, however, they still have important niche uses.

These catheters should ideally be positioned in the proximal right or left main pulmonary artery.

History and etymology

The first balloon flotation flow-directed catheter that did not require image-guidance for insertion and therefore could be inserted at the bedside was introduced in 1970  by William Ganz (1919 - 2009) and HJC (Harold James Charles)​ "Jeremy" Swan (1922-2005) , both cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Les Angeles.