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Updated: Jul 29, 2026

Lavage-induced Surfactant Depletion in Pigs As a Model of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
Published on: September 7, 2016
[Rupture of the pulmonary artery - fatal complication by pulmonary artery balloon-tipped catheter]
T Cissarek1, F W Saul, B Hufnagel
1Medizinische Klinik Mitte, Abteilung für Kardiologie und Nephrologie, Städtische Kliniken Dortmund, Beurhausstrasse 40, D-44137 Dortmund. Cissarek@t-online.de
Abstract:
The flow directed balloon-tipped pulmonary artery catheter introduced by Swann and Ganz 1970 has made possible the measurement of filling pressures in the heart and is extensively used in operating rooms, in catheterization laboratories and in intensive care units. The rupture of the pulmonary artery is an uncommon complication associated with a high mortality rate exceeding 50 percent. Main symptoms are cough, hemoptysis, dyspnea and cardiac shock. Complications occur if guidelines for the safe use of the balloon-tipped catheters are not strictly followed: Excessive catheter manipulation, advancing the catheter tip too far peripherally and leaving the inflated balloon in the wedge position for long periods should be avoided. Patients with pulmonary hypertension as well as elderly and anticoagulated patients are at greater risk.
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