title: [The clinical investigation of the pulmonary arterial pressure in stable-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with cor pulmonale].
abstract: We measured pulmonary arterial pressure with Swan-Ganz catheters both at rest and after exercise in 21 patients with stable-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The results were as follows: pulmonary arterial mean pressure cases (PAPm) increased at rest in 11 cases (PAPm greater than or equal to 2.66kPa); in 6 cases PAPm was normal at rest (PAPm less than 2.66kPa) but increased above the normal level after exercise (PAPm greater than or equal to 3.99 kPa); in 4 cases PAPm was within the normal limit both at rest and after exercise. These results suggest that (1) pulmonary arterial pressure in some patients with COPD and cor pulmonale can return to the normal level; (2) exercise load test can detect early-stage or latent pulmonary hypertension; (3) attention should be paid to the patient selection when long-term vasodilators are administered.
authors.affiliation: Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical University.
authors.forename: Z X
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000150:complications*