ABSTRACT

In 1844, Claude Bernard inserted a mercury thermometer into the carotid artery of a horse and advanced it through the aortic valve to the left ventricular chamber in order to measure blood temperature. He adapted this experiment over the next 40 years for measuring intracardiac pressures in a variety of animals. It is because of his work that the use of catheters became the standard method for physiologists in the study of cardiovascular hemodynamics. At this time, cardiac catheterization continues to evolve and expand, including advances in the elds of material science and miniaturization. Thus, it is an important technique, useful to evaluate ventricular function through the analysis of arterial and ventricular pressure curves.