Venous pressure as a guide to pneumoperitoneum therapy in pulmonary emphysema.

The striking improvement of symptoms in most patients with pulmonary emphysema treated with pneumoperitoneum has been correlated with changes in pulmonary function by Carter, Gaensler et al.’2 Although the circulatory changes in pulmonary emphysema have been the subject of intensive investigation,37 there has been no report, so far, dealing with the hemodynamic effects of pneumoperitoneum in this disorder. The measurement of the venous pressure in the upper extremity in the course of pneumoperitoneum administration seemed to be one of the simplest methods to determine relative intrathoracic pressure changes. The results of these determinations are the subject of this preliminary report. Methods