Pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension in rheumatic heart disease

In 328 patients with moderate or severe pulmonary hypertension, operated for stenosis of the left atrioventricular orifice and mitral-aortic stenosis, the character of the regulation of cardiac output, gas exchange in the lungs, haemodynamics in the lesser circulation and of the work of the ventricles was analysed. On the basis of the results, the theory has been deduced about the cardiac origin of pulmonary hypertension, according to which spasm of the pulmonary precapillaries represents a reaction of the organism to imperfect cardiac output and of balance in the left and right ventricular ejection.