BACKGROUND In patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, noninvasive ventilation may be used in an attempt to avoid endotracheal intubation and complications associated with mechanical ventilation. METHODS We conducted a prospective, randomized study comparing noninvasive pressure-support ventilation delivered through a face mask with standard treatment in pat...

A 63 year-old female presented with dyspnea on exertion. Her chest X-ray showed cardiomegaly, and right ventricular overload and tricuspid regurgitation were detected. Her pulmonary ventilation and blood flow scintigraphy findings were suspicious of pulmonary vascular disease; the diagnosis was pulmonary hypertension and bilateral branch pulmonary artery stenosis. After the inflammation settled...

In resting reptiles, the PO2 of pulmonary venous return (PLAO2; left atrial blood) may be 20 mmHg (1 mmHg = 0.1333 kPa) lower than the PO2 of gas in the lung. This level of PO2 is considerably higher than that observed in resting mammals and birds and results from ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) heterogeneity, pulmonary diffusion limitation and intrapulmonary shunting. However, the relative contrib...

Anaesthesia and surgery induce major changes in respiratory function, in particular when the thorax or the upper abdomen are involved. Pulmonary volumes decrease, and atelectasis can develop. Postoperative pain and diaphragm dysfunction further worsen the respiratory function, contributing to the risk of acute respiratory failure. non-invasive ventilation proved to be beneficial in the postoper...

Quantitative analyzes of the variability in airways via four-dimensional dynamic ventilation CT patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: correlation spirometry data and severity airflow limitation

Background. In patients with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, noninvasive ventilation may be used in an attempt to avoid endotracheal intubation and complications associated with mechanical ventilation. Methods. We conducted a prospective, randomized study comparing noninvasive pressure-support ventilation delivered through a face mask with standard treatment in pat...

Low O2 levels in the lungs of birds and mammals cause constriction of the pulmonary vasculature that elevates resistance to pulmonary blood flow and increases pulmonary blood pressure. This hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) diverts pulmonary blood flow from poorly ventilated and hypoxic areas of the lung to more well-ventilated parts and is considered important for the local matching of ...

Invasive ventilation is associated with both pulmonary and non-pulmonary complications. There has been a renewed interest in the use of negative pressure ventilation (NPV) for various medical conditions to minimise the complications associated with positive pressure ventilation. The routine use of NPV in an ICU setting still requires further studies and research. In this article, the authors re...

The unusually muscular pulmonary arteries normally present in cattle and swine residing at low altitude are associated with a rapid development of severe pulmonary hypertension when those animals are moved to high altitude. Because these species lack collateral ventilation, they appear to have an increased dependence on hypoxic vasoconstriction to maintain normal ventilation-perfusion balance, ...

Purpose: Hyperpolarized noble gas magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a way to map both functional and structural pulmonary information. Specifically in asthmatics, inhaled hyperpolarized gas MRI has been used to evaluate bronchoconstriction (methacholine-challenge [MCh]) and bronchodilation (salbutamol), showing ventilation defects that respond to MCh and salbutamol [1]. Fourier decompos...