Clinical, haemodynamic and echocardiographic study in chronic cor pulmonale

Thirty patients of chronic cor pulmonale were studied clinically and by chest skiagram, electrocardiography, echocardiography, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gas analysis and, wherever possible by right heart catheterization. Pulmonary arterial pressures (PAP) correlated significantly only with cardiomegaly on skiagram and with arterial oxygen tension (PaO2). There was no significant correlation between mean PA pressures and prominent pulmonary conus on RVH by ECG, FEV1, PaCO2 or right ventricular outflow tract dimensions by echocardiography. Left ventricular function, as assessed by pulmonary capillary wedge pressure on cardiac catheterization, by LV ejection fraction and fractional shortening on echocardiography was normal in all cases except two (6.67%). There was significant increase in left ventricular posterior wall thickness in the patients studied.