Author Question: A pulmonary artery catheter introduced via the antecubital route is currently at the 50-cm mark and ... (Read 48 times)

burton19126 · **on:** Jul 16, 2018

A pulmonary artery catheter introduced via the antecubital route is currently at the 50-cm mark and is showing the tracing below. Is there a problem with this catheter?

a. Yes; the balloon has ruptured.
b. No; it's in the pulmonary artery.
c. Yes; it's knotted in the right ventricle.
d. No; it's wedged in a pulmonary capillary.

Question 2

Falsely elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings can occur when using either a manual or an automatic system because of which of the following?

a. Improper position-ing c. Undersized cuff
b. Motion artifacts d. Improper inflation

yuyiding · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 16, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: C
When a pulmonary artery catheter is introduced through the antecubital route, the distance re-quired to enter the pulmonary artery is between 40 and 50 cm. A catheter in at the 50-cm mark should be showing a pulmonary artery tracing. This waveform is a right ventricular waveform. Therefore, the catheter must be knotted in the right ventricle.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: C
An undersized cuff can falsely elevate readings in both manual sphygmomanometers and auto-mated blood pressure monitoring systems.