Central Venous Pressure and Pulmonary Wedge Pressure in Critical Surgical Illness: A Comparison

To assess the reliability of the central venous pressure (CVP) as an adequate guide to cardiac performance, we inserted a balloon-tipped pulmonary artery catheter (Swan-Ganz 7F, 110 cm) in 27 critically ill surgical patients, and simultaneously measured CVP and pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP). Thirteen patients with a previous history of cardiopulmonary disease showed a poor correlation between CVP and PWP ( P >.50). Fourteen patients with no prior history of cardiopulmonary disease showed a significant correlation between CVP and PWP ( P