Production of Heart Sounds by the Cardiac Catheter

Abstract

Extra heart sounds are frequently produced by the cardiac catheter in the human subject during routine cardiac catheterization. They are associated with a characteristic pressure artefact, which suggests that the sound is produced by back-and-forth movement of the catheter tip across the pulmonic valve. Similar sounds, and also murmurs, can be produced by catheter passage across pulmonary or aortic valves in excised canine hearts. The fact that such artificial sounds can be produced by the intracardiac catheter suggests gests that some caution must be used in interpreting phonocardiograms obtained during cardiac catheterization.