Left ventricular dysfunction during infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Clinical observations suggest that pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) underestimates the resuscitative volumes required prior to release of aortic cross-clamp. To investigate pressure-volume relationships associated with repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), we simultaneously monitored PAOP by pulmonary artery catheter (PAC) and estimated left ventricular (LV) diastolic volume using two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in 22 patients undergoing AAA repair. Data from PAC monitoring and TEE were collected before, during, and after aortic occlusion. TEE cross-sectional images were obtained at the mid-papillary level. Overall, PAOP correlated with left ventricular end-diastolic area (LVEDA), but the correlation was not particularly strong (r = 0.37, P