What is pulmonary artery catheterization?

Also known as: pulmonary artery catheters, PAC, Swan-Ganz catheterization.

The pulmonary arteries are the two major vessels coming from the right side of the heart that carry blood low in oxygen from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary artery catheterization is a procedure where a long thin flexible tube called a catheter is inserted into a blood vein in the groin area of a leg and guided into the right side of the heart to the pulmonary arteries. It is done to diagnose or treat a number of heart conditions.


Reviewed by: Jack Wolfsdorf, MD, FAAP

This page was last updated on: 1/29/2019 3:21:13 PM

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