[The changes of viscoelastic properties of whole blood in patients with chronic cor pulmonale]

The changes of blood viscoelasticity and apparent viscosities at low shear rate (0.512 S-1) and high shear rate (51.2 S-1) were studied in 61 patients with various severity of chronic cor pulmonale (CCP). The relation between blood viscoelasticity and apparent viscosities and PaO2 and PaCO2 was investigated and the data were collected before and after treatment. Grouped data: Group 1. A total of 61 patients with CCP were studied, 10 of them died during hospitalization. Sixty-one patients at the acute stage were divided into mild, severe and dead sub groups. Twenty-nine patients were improved after treatment. Group 2. Control group (74 normal people) matched group 1 in sex and age. The results demonstrated that eta 0.512, eta 51.2 and eta' were slightly increased in the mild group, but HCT, eta 0.512, eta 51.2, AI, eta' and eta" were elevated more significantly in the severe group. All variables mentioned above of died patients were elevated more remarked than that of the mild group. HCT, eta" in dead patients were slightly higher than those in severe group (P less than 0.05-0.01). It was clear that the more severe the patient, the more increased the hematocrit and RBC aggregation, the less the RBC deformability. HCT would be elevated when PaO2 was below 8 kPa (60 mmHg) and the HCT, eta 0.512, eta', eta" increased significantly (P less than 0.05-0.01) when PaCO2 was over 6.65 kPa (50 mmHg). There was a positive linear correlation between eta 0.512 and PaCO2.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)