title: Effects of prolonged oxygen therapy on pulmonary hypertension and blood viscosity in patients with advanced cor pulmonale.
abstract: In 16 patients with chronic bronchitis and advanced cor pulmonale admitted to hospital due to heart failure, a controlled 6-weeks oxygen therapy, 17 h a day, was performed. The trial was started when patients were out of the exacerbation of the disease in a respiratory and circulatory steady state. Pulmonary hemodynamics, blood viscosity, packed cell volume and basic lung function data before and after oxygen therapy were compared. A significant fall of mean pulmonary arterial pressure from 42 to 30 mm Hg without a change in the cardiac output was found. Blood viscosity and packed cell volume-significantly decreased. Arterial oxygen tension did not significantly change. It seems that 17-hours per day oxygen therapy is sufficient to induce regression of anatomic changes in pulmonary arteries, a main cause of pulmonary hypertension in hypoxic cor pulmonale.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001809:Blood Viscosity; D002302:Cardiac Output; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology