[The hemodynamic status of patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis and different degrees of respiratory failure]

Changes in myocardial function of the right ventricle depending on oxygen tension in arterial blood were studied in 95 patients suffering from chronic obstructive bronchitis (COB) characterized by dramatic bronchial patency impairment and varying degree of respiratory insufficiency. Central hemodynamics was examined by echo-Doppler-cardiography and integral rheography. It has been established that in COB patients, the status of hemodynamics agrees well with the grade of respiratory insufficiency. As hypoxia increases, systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery rises; the size of the right ventricle and the width of its anterior wall increase; contractile function of the right ventricle does not depend on changes in oxygen tension in arterial blood; the compensatory increase of the cardiac and stroke indices is accompanied, as hypoxia rises, by diminution of pulmonary vascular resistance.