[Modification of pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases using calcium antagonists...

Since the life expectancy of the patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases (COLD) is essentially determined by the size of the pulmonary hypertension, today the efforts are directed to an early and effective therapy of the precapillary hypertension. Apart from a treatment of the pulmonary basic disease the therapy with vasodilators stands in the centre of interest. The influence on mean pressure of the pulmonary artery and vascular resistance of the lung by verapamil (39 patients) and nifedipine (21 patients) was investigated. In patients with latent pulmonary hypertension the two calcium antagonists showed a reduction of the pressure of the pulmonary arteries and vascular resistance of the lungs, which was more distinct when nifedipine was given. An influence on the haemodynamic parameters in patients with manifest pulmonary hypertension could not be ascertained. In correspondence with the findings in literature the results show that the use of calcium antagonists for part of the patients with precapillary hypertension appears as an enrichment of the therapeutic possibilities. At present a prerequisite for this, however, are still individual haemodynamic investigations. The question of the effectivity of a long-term therapy is not yet satisfactorily clarified.