Inadvertent placement of a pulmonary artery catheter in the coronary sinus: is it time to increase our sweep speed?

Abstract

A patient was scheduled for open infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and the procedure was performed without complication. The pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) was unintentionally placed in the coronary sinus via an undiagnosed persistent left superior vena cava anomaly. Interpreting the waveform produced by the PAC in standard and abnormal locations such as the coronary sinus is equally as important as measuring and monitoring hemodynamic status.