Acute Effect of Pulmonary Desufflation on Cardiac Performance in COPD Patients

In a paper recently published, Barr et al, supposed that pulmonary emphysema and bronchial obstruction were inversely related with ventricular telediastolic volume, with the ejection volume and the ejection fraction in patients with severe pulmonary disease. The mechanisms that are involved in the development of cor pulmonale are the increase of pulmonary vascular resistances, lung hyperinflation and hypoxic vascular constriction. All the mentioned contribute to the generation of right cardiac failure and consequently, left cardiac failure. The authors assessed lung hyperinflation by CT scan, pulmonary function by spirometry, and cardiac kinetic and mechanics by magnetic resonance. They concluded that the amount of emphysema and bronchial obstruction were related with a worse telediastolic left ventricular volume and stroke volume, no relation was found with ejection fraction. It was evident that patients with severe pulmonary disease and with no present cardiac diseases, had sub-clinic modifications that one day may lead them to the development of cor pulmonale. The effect of bronchodilation, with its effect on lung hyperinflation, may have a role in producing some modifications in this context. That's why that the aim of our study is centered on the evaluation of the effect of bronchodilation firstly on diastolic right ventricular function and also on interventricular septum motility, on the ejection fraction and on the kinetics of right cardiac chambers assessed by cardiac echocardiography