Evaluation Of Pulmonary Vascular Disease Research Articles

Effects of body position during cardiopulmonary exercise testing with right heart catheterization.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) with right heart catheterization (RHC) widely used for early diagnosis and evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and early stage heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, who display normal hemodynamics at rest. The aim of this study was to investigate that whether body position affects pulmonary hemodynamics, pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP), and CPX parameters during invasive CPX. Seventeen patients (58 ± 14 years; 5/12 male/female) with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension treated with percutaneous transluminal pulmonary angioplasty and near‐normal pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) underwent invasive CPX twice in supine and upright position using a cycle ergometer with 6 months interval. The mean PAP (peak: 45 ± 7 vs. 40 ± 11 mmHg, P = 0.006) and PAWP (peak: 17 ± 4 vs. 11 ± 7 mmHg, P = 0.008, supine vs. upright, respectively) throughout the test in supine position were significantly higher compared with in upright position, because of preload increase. However, transpulmonary pressure gradient, pulmonary vascular resistance, and mPA‐Q slope during exercise were of no significant difference between two positions. There were no differences between the results of two positions in peak VO 2 (15.9 ± 4.0 vs. 16.6 ± 3.2 mL/min per kg, P = 0.456), the VE versus VCO 2 slope (37.8 ± 9.2 vs. 35.9 ± 8.0, P = 0.397), or the peak work‐rate (79 ± 29 vs. 84 ± 27W, P = 0.118). Body position had a significant influence on PAP and PAWP during exercise, but no influence on the pulmonary circulation, or peak VO 2, or VE vs.VCO 2 slope.

Ressonância magnética de pulmão: um novo passo no estudo das doenças pulmonares

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lung has progressed tremendously in recent years. Because of improvements in speed and image quality, MRI is now ready for routine clinical use. The main advantage of MRI of the lung is its unique combination of structural and functional assessment in a single imaging session. We review the three major clinical indications for MRI of the lung: staging of lung tumors; evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease; and investigation of pulmonary abnormalities in patients who should not be exposed to radiation.

Pulmonary vascular stiffness: measurement, modeling, and implications in normal and hypertensive pulmonary circulations.

This article introduces the concept of pulmonary vascular stiffness, discusses its increasingly recognized importance as a diagnostic marker in the evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease, and describes methods to measure and model it clinically, experimentally, and computationally. It begins with a description of systems-level methods to evaluate pulmonary vascular compliance and recent clinical efforts in applying such techniques to better predict patient outcomes in pulmonary arterial hypertension. It then progresses from the systems-level to the local level, discusses proposed methods by which upstream pulmonary vessels increase in stiffness, introduces concepts around vascular mechanics, and concludes by describing recent work incorporating advanced numerical methods to more thoroughly evaluate changes in local mechanical properties of pulmonary arteries.

Possibilities and impossibilities in the evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease in congenital heart defects.

. These changes, knownas pulmonary plexogenic arteriopathy, include increasedmuscularization, altered vasoconstrictive and impairedvasodilatatory responses in the arterial tree, andextensive extracellular matrix modulation (includingincreased collagen deposition and gradual occlusion ofthe small pulmonary arteries by intimal proliferationand fibrosis)

Open lung biopsies in congenital heart disease for evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease. Predictive value with regard to corrective operability.

For evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease 140 open lung biopsies were performed in 137 patients with congenital heart disease in order to decide whether the state of the lung vessels would allow corrective surgery. As far as possible follow-up was obtained in patients who underwent a cardiac repair. From the study of these biopsy specimens it appeared that medial hypertrophy of pulmonary arteries and changes in pulmonary veins should not be considered an impediment for a corrective operation as long as more advanced changes are absent. The same is true for intimal thickening due to longitudinal smooth muscle, post-thrombotic changes or cellular proliferation. Concentric-laminar intimal fibrosis forms no contra-indication as long as it is mild but, if severe, it is likely that hypertensive pulmonary vascular disease will progress in spite of cardiac repair. In the presence of fibrinoid necrosis or plexiform lesions correction of a cardiac anomaly should not be attempted. The presence of dilatation lesions is more disputable but probably, as long as they are scarce and not accompanied by fibrinoid necrosis or plexiform lesions, corrective surgery may be attempted. This becomes very dubious when they are more numerous.

Lung Biopsy Specimens in the Evaluation of Pulmonary Vascular Disease

Open lung biopsy specimens in 72 patients were submitted for evaluation of pulmonary vascular disease. In nine instances, the specimens were inadequate for this purpose. Essentially, there were three indications for taking a lung biopsy specimen. The first was unexplained pulmonary hypertension with 40 patients in this category; plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy was diagnosed in 14, and chronic pulmonary thromboembolism in 12. Others included pulmonary venoocclusive disease in two patients; two other patients had pulmonary vascular lesions in their lung biopsy specimens, indicative of chronic hypoxic pulmonary hypertension; and ten patients had severe arterial as well as venous alterations that could have been caused by obstruction to pulmonary venous flow as well as by fibrosis of lung tissue. Since we realized this possible source of error, we have submitted these two alternative possibilities to the clinician. In a heterogeneous group of eight patients, the nature of acquired or congenital heart disease remained doubtful in spite of extensive clinical investigation. In several instances, the biopsy specimen contributed to establishing the diagnosis of the cardiac condition. Finally, in a group of 15 patients with known congenital cardiac disease and pulmonary hypertension, whose state of pulmonary vasculature was considered borderline as far as the possibility of corrective surgery of the cardiac defect was concerned, lung biopsy specimens helped to determine the feasibility of surgery. The results show that in a restricted group of patients with pulmonary vascular disease, a biopsy of the lung has a place in establishing the nature and severity of the vascular alterations.