Right Heart Catheterization and Pulmonary Hemodynamics

Right heart catheterization is a minimally invasive procedure and valuable for diagnosis and categorizing of various disease entities such as valvular heart defect, cardiogenic shock, chronic and acute heart failure, as well as patients with pulmonary hypertension. It provides hemodynamic measurement of intracardiac and pulmonary pressures. In addition to pure diagnosis, right heart catheterization is of upmost importance for therapy control in patients with low cardiac output syndrome, cardiogenic shock, and pulmonary hypertension.

This article describes indications, contraindications, and how to perform right heart catheterization.

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Interventional Cardiology: Principles and Practice, Third Edition