[Hemodynamic and gasometric stability during right heart catheterization in chronic bronchopneumopathies]

In order to determine if blood gases and haemodynamic variables were steady after right heart catheterization, measurements were performed as soon as the catheter was placed, and after an interval ranging between 15 and 25 min in 22 patients with chronic lung disease. This study shows that there was no significant difference in blood gases, systemic and pulmonary vascular pressures, or cardiac output, except for pulmonary wedge pressure which decreased by 1.1 mmHg on average, and PaO2 which increased by 2.8 mmHg on average; these changes were indeed of small magnitude. Individual changes were usually small, but occasionally changes in vascular pressures of several mmHg could be observed. The stability of blood gases and haemodynamic variables can be explained by the lack of anxiety in these patients who had been familiarized with the equipment and the procedure the day before the examination, and also by the relaxed atmosphere during the procedure, which prevents apprehension with its haemodynamic consequences.