title: Cardiorespiratory intermediate intensive unit: heart-lung interactions.
abstract: The heart and lung (the body's gas transport system) are neurally, mechanically, humorally and functionally linked. Several clinical-therapeutic consequences involve heart-lung interactions. Three of these conditions are described here: 1) pulsus paradoxus in asthma; 2) survival in chronic cor pulmonale; and 3) Cheyne-Stokes breathing in congestive heart failure. They provide examples of the pathophysiological and clinical complexity that such correlations involve. The most remarkable "effects" of the heart-lung relationship as a metabolic unit are represented by development of cardiorespiratory intensive care units, and efforts to bring about methods of monitoring cardiorespiratory function.
authors.affiliation: Cathedra di Medicina Interna I, Universita' di Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Grassi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malerba
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Politi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Boni
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tantucci
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology; D001692:Biological Transport; D003422:Critical Care; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D011660:Pulmonary Heart Disease / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen