Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/umls/id/C0179790
UMD: Flotation balloon cardiac catheters designed to be wedged into a pulmonary artery branch. These catheters usually consist of a multilumen, soft, flexible body and a balloon tip that is inflated when the distal tip is in a thoracic vein, so the blood flow carries it into the right atrium, through the tricuspid valve and the right ventricle, into the pulmonary artery, and into a pulmonary artery branch; they typically also include a thermistor. Pulmonary artery catheters are used to measure right atrial, pulmonary arterial, and pulmonary capillary wedge pressures, to monitor pulmonary artery temperature, to withdraw blood samples from the atrium and pulmonary artery, to administer drugs, and to infuse thermal indication solutions for cardiac output measurement using the thermodilution method.