Central haemodynamics during exercise in patients with restrictive pulmonary disease

Pulmonary precapillary hypertension present only during exercise is the first stage of corpulmonale. Examination of the reaction of central haemodynamics to exercise is the only way to detect it. In a model situation like unilateral pulmonary artery occlusion (UPAO) in healthy subjects, an increase in pulmonary artery pressure (Ppa) during exercise is a linear function of restriction of the pulmonary vascular bed and blood flow increase. Central haemodynamics during exercise in younger subjects after pneumonectomy (PNE) resemble the situation with UPAO provided the remaining lung is intact. In older patients after PNE the same rise of blood flow is associated with a considerably greater rise of Ppa. PNE patients compared to healthy individuals increase their cardiac output during exercise more by increasing stroke volume. Patients with pulmonary fibrosis show a disproportionate rise in Ppa in relation to flow. This is due to reduced distensibility of the pulmonary system. Hypoxia also seems to be involved in pulmonary hypertension during exercise. Pulmonary wedge pressure rises at work but remains within the normal range, even in patients having marked hypoxaemia at rest and during exercise. In idiopathic intersitial pulmonary fibrosis (IIPF), pulmonary hypertension during exercise is greater than in other forms of pulmonary fibrosis. Inhalation of oxygen during exercise in patients IIPF leads to a reversal of hypoxaemia but the decrease of Ppa is small and due to a passive decrease of cardiac output. Finally right ventricular function in restrictive pneumopathies is discussed.