What is the clinical significance of PICs?
Ominous, both diagnostically and prognostically. PIC positive patients have a higher pulmonary capillary
wedge pressure, lower pulmonary venous compliance, and higher mortality. Deguchi et al. monitored for 6
years 262 patients after an acute myocardial infarction. PIC-positive patients had worse long-term prognosis:
28/143 (19.6%) died of cardiac causes as compared with 3/78 (3.8%) of PIC-negative patients. Cardiac
deaths were even higher in patients with persistent crackles: 15/41 (36.6%). Hence, PICs provide a
noninvasive, simple, and valuable bedside test. After the number of diseased coronary vessels and the
patient’s pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), PICs rank third as the most important predictor of
recovery after acute myocardial infarction.
Ominous, both diagnostically and prognostically. PIC positive patients have a higher pulmonary capillary
wedge pressure, lower pulmonary venous compliance, and higher mortality. Deguchi et al. monitored for 6
years 262 patients after an acute myocardial infarction. PIC-positive patients had worse long-term prognosis:
28/143 (19.6%) died of cardiac causes as compared with 3/78 (3.8%) of PIC-negative patients. Cardiac
deaths were even higher in patients with persistent crackles: 15/41 (36.6%). Hence, PICs provide a
noninvasive, simple, and valuable bedside test. After the number of diseased coronary vessels and the
patient’s pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), PICs rank third as the most important predictor of
recovery after acute myocardial infarction.