[Defence of Swan-Ganz catheters during surgical intensive care (author's transl)]

It is difficult to apprehend certain precarious hemodynamic states with classical parameters alone; the help of a flow-directed pulmonary artery catheter is necessary in order to define the disease accurately and reach a rational therapy. The problem is easily solved by the use of a Swan-Ganz catheter. The authors have selected 50 observations to help them make clear the indications of this method in surgery and traumatology: it appears necessary to use this method not only in specialized surgery such as valvulary surgery under CEC, but also in the treatment and prevention of non-cardiogenic pulmonary oedema and in emergency or bleeding surgery on patients suffering from cardiac disease or renal failure.