Filling pressures of the heart and pulmonary circulation of the patient with coronary artery disease after large intravenous doses of morphine

Abstract

Filling pressures of the heart and hemodynamic responses were studied before, during and after administration of morphine, 2 mg/kg, intravenously (5 mg/min) in 8 patients with coronary artery disease and normal ventricular contractility requiring myocardial revascularization. Left heart filling pressure (LHFP) was estimated by measuring balloon occluded pulmonary arterial pressure via a Swan Ganz catheter, and right heart filling pressure (RHFP) by right atrial pressure measurements. LHFP and RHFP were unchanged until 1.5 mg/kg morphine had been administered; after 2 mg/kg, LHFP had risen from a control level of 6.9 ± 0.8 to 10.6 ± 1.1 mm Hg (P