If a pulmonary artery catheter migrates distally and becomes permanently wedged, what condition is a patient at risk for?

When a pulmonary artery catheter migrates distally and becomes permanently wedged, it obstructs the flow of blood in the pulmonary artery, leading to insufficient blood supply to a portion of the lung. This obstruction can cause a pulmonary infarction, which is the death of lung tissue due to lack of oxygen.

In this situation, the wedged position of the catheter can impede blood flow to the area of the lung supplied by the affected pulmonary artery branch. Without adequate blood flow and oxygen delivery, the tissues in that area become ischemic and can ultimately die, resulting in an infarction. This is a serious condition that can lead to respiratory complications and significantly impacts the patient’s overall health, necessitating prompt medical intervention.

Understanding this context is crucial to recognizing how a misplaced catheter can lead to specific vascular and respiratory complications such as pulmonary infarction, rather than conditions like pneumothorax, pulmonary embolism, or cardiac tamponade, which are related to other specific mechanisms of injury or obstruction in the cardiovascular system.