Management of critically ill patients with a pulmonary artery catheter did not reduce all cause mortality
Q In critically ill patients, does management with a pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) reduce hospital all cause mortality?
METHODS
Design:
randomised controlled trial (Pulmonary Artery Catheters in Management of patients in intensive care [PAC-Man] trial).
Allocation:
concealed.
Blinding:
unblinded.
Follow up period:
until discharge from the acute hospital ward.
Setting:
65 intensive care units (ICUs) in the UK.
Patients:
1041 patients (mean age 65 y, 57% men) who were admitted to adult ICUs and identified by the treating clinicians as patients who should be managed with a PAC. Exclusion criteria included age <16 years, elective admission for preoperative optimisation, presence of a PAC on admission, or haemodynamic optimisation before organ donation.
Intervention:
management with a PAC (n = 519) or without a PAC (n = 522). The timing …
