The Swan-Ganz Catheter Remains a Critically Important Component of Monitoring in Cardiovascular Critical Care.

Few inventions in modern medicine have generated as passionate and extended debate as the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). Since its introduction in 1970, the PAC remains an indispensable monitor in cardiovascular critical care. Despite attempts to develop less invasive alternatives, the PAC remains unequaled as a single monitoring device capable of measuring physiological derangement in most components of the circulation, in the awake or sedated patient, with real-time feedback on the efficacy of an intervention. In reviewing the literature, we contend that the PAC remains the "gold standard" for hemodynamic monitoring of critically ill cardiac patients.