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David H. Spodick, MD, DSc

JAMA. 1989;261(13):1946-1947.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

NOT ALL the maneuvers directed toward benefiting patients necessarily result in net benefit—a situation we readily accept in conscientiously attempting to avoid the toxic effects, complications, and side effects of medical and surgical treatments. Yet, like treatments, invasive diagnostic procedures present complications and side effects that may be less comprehensively appreciated. In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Carlson and colleagues¹ report pulmonary artery hemorrhage, a rare complication of flow-directed pulmonary artery catheterization, in three patients, one of whom was adroitly treated with therapeutic embolism. While the authors list risk factors for this complication (to which could be added recent cardiopulmonary bypass), their report should be considered in a broader context—that of indications for catheterization and the panoply of recognized complications, summarized in the Table, as well as the poorly understood physiological burden imposed by the presence of intravascular instrumentation itself.²

Recognized Complications

The precise incidence of recognizable complications . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Division of Cardiology, St Vincent Hospital, and the Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Cardiology Division, St Vincent Hospital, Worcester, MA 01604 (Dr Spodick).

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