Do changes in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure adequately reflect myocardial ischemia during anesthesia? A correlative preoperative hemodynamic, electrocardiographic, and transesophageal echocardiographic study.

Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) is monitored during anesthesia in an attempt to detect changes in myocardial function in patients at risk of preoperative cardiac complications. Because the sensitivity with which preoperative PCWP monitoring indicates myocardial ischemia is uncertain, we monitored PCWP, 12-lead electrocardiogram, and left ventricular wall motion abnormalities as defined by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in 98 anesthetized patients before coronary artery bypass grafting. Measurements were made five times in each patient, before and after induction of anesthesia. Myocardial ischemia was identified by TEE in 14 patients; in 10 of these, it was associated with concomitant ST segment depression of at least 1 mm. The onset of ischemia, as defined by TEE, was accompanied by a mean increase in PCWP of 3.5 +/- 4.8 mm Hg, as compared with a mean change of 0 +/- 2.2 mm Hg between observations not associated with the onset of ischemia (p less than 0.01). An increase in PCWP of at least 3 mm Hg, tested as an indicator of ischemia, had a sensitivity of 25% and a positive predictive value of 15%; after correction for background changes associated with anesthetic induction, the sensitivity of this indicator was 33%, and its positive predictive value was 16%. These figures were not improved by selecting cutoff points higher or lower than 3 mm Hg. In this study, the onset of myocardial ischemia was associated with a small yet significant increase in mean PCWP at group level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)