Background Patients with left to right shunting of blood through an atrial septal defect (ASD) have decreased exercise capacity. This study hypothesized that central factors influence exercise capacity, namely systemic and pulmonary cardiac output and right ventricular (RV) function during stress as well as left atrial pressure (LAP) and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP). Previous studies have fo...

Pulmonary function tests were performed at rest and following blood transfusion on 17 patients with thalassemia major. At rest, diffusion capacity was significantly reduced (mean of 57 percent), and forced vital capacity was mildly reduced (mean of 85 percent). In two of the patients, arterial oxygen tension was low. Other pulmonary function results were in the normal range. Following blood tra...

Background Untreated idiopathic scoliosis (IS) may lead to large deformations of the trunk, limiting capacity and biomechanics functions of the chest and exercise capacity, which is closely related to changes in the functioning of the cardio-pulmonary system. The conservative treatment of IS is applied in a brace treatment and various methods of physiotherapy. However, the usage of the brace ma...

BMT=bone marrow transplantation; BO=bronchiolitis obliterans; CMV=cytomegalovirus; DAH=diffuse alveo¬ lar hemorrhage; DCO=diffusing capacity ofcarbon mon¬ oxide; GVHD=graft-vs-host disease; HHV-6=human her¬ pes virus-6; HSV=herpes simplex virus; IPS=idiopathic pneumonia syndrome; PAP=pulmonary alveolar protei¬ nosis; FCF=Pneumocysti8 carinii pneumonia; PFT=pulmonary function test; RSV=respirato...

The syndrome resulting from combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema has not been comprehensively described. The current authors conducted a retrospective study of 61 patients with both emphysema of the upper zones and diffuse parenchymal lung disease with fibrosis of the lower zones of the lungs on chest computed tomography. Patients (all smokers) included 60 males and one female, with a mean...

BACKGROUND The continuous infusion of prostacyclin has been shown to improve exercise capacity and survival in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH). Inhalation of iloprost, a stable analog of prostacyclin, might be an alternative therapy for PPH, selectively acting on the pulmonary vascular bed through ventilation-matched alveolar deposition of the drug. We investigated the short-...

The flow-volume loop is a test of ventilatory function in which a graphic recording of maximal flow rates is dispiayed at all lung volumes during a maximal effort forced expiratory and inspiratory vital capacity maneuver. The test is errsy to demonstrate, administer, and analyze. Pulmonary diseases produce characteristic flow-volume loop abnormalities. The visualization of abnormalities and cal...

The present paper provides a review of the literature regarding exercise testing, exercise capacity, and the role of exercise training in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). Different measures of exercise capacity are discussed, including both simple and more advanced exercise parameters. Different groups of patients, including shunt lesions, pulmonary valvar stenosis, patients after ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Home-based pulmonary rehabilitation programs have been proposed as an alternative to hospital-based programs for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We undertook a systematic review of randomized studies on home-based pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with COPD which report health-related quality of life and/or exercise capacity, in order to assess t...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary function may decline after induction chemotherapy and predict perioperative complications in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The influence of adjuvant chemotherapy is largely indeterminate. OBJECTIVE To assess whether adjuvant chemotherapy alters pulmonary function and impacts on treatment-related adverse events. METHODS In a trial on adjuvant chemotherapy (the TREA...