[Pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise in anesthetized dogs with inspiratory loading and in patients with chronic...

We studied 1) the effects of inspiratory elastic loading on pulmonary hemodynamics and pulmonary gas exchange with and without electrically induced hindlimb exercise in 8 anesthetized dogs, 2) pulmonary hemodynamics at rest and during single stage exercise on a supine cycle ergometer in 6 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 3) changes in P wave height in lead II of electrocardiogram during progressive exercise on a treadmill in 9 COPD patients. The pulmonary arterial pressure-flow relationship from resting to exercise was not affected by inspiratory elastic loading, but elastic loading accompanied by exercise increased alveolar-arterial O2 tension difference (AaDO2). The pulmonary arterial pressure-flow relationship in COPD from rest to exercise showed higher pulmonary vascular resistance than that in control group. Moreover, we found a greater increase in P wave height during exercise in COPD with decrease in PaO2 during exercise than in COPD without decrease in PaO2 during exercise. This increase in P wave height during exercise was inhibited by oxygen inhalation. We speculated that 1) increased AaDO2 during exercise with elastic loading may be due to increased shunt effects with low ventilation-perfusion ratio and 2) increased P wave height during exercise in COPD may be correlated with hypoxia during exercise and may be useful to detect latent cor pulmonale in COPD.