A 68-year–old woman had been experiencing Raynaud symptom, palpitation of the heart, and short breath in walking stairs or slopes for 7 years. Recently, these symptoms had rapidly become worse. She admitted to our hospital. At that time, she was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma (limited scleroderma). Pulmonary hypertension was pointed out by echocardiography (estimated pulmonary artery press...

Exercise is a stress to the pulmonary vasculature. With incremental exercise, the pulmonary diffusing capacity (DLCO) must increase to meet the increased oxygen demand; otherwise, a diffusion limitation may occur. The increase in DLCO with exercise is due to increased capillary blood volume (Vc) and membrane diffusing capacity (Dm). Vc and Dm increase secondary to the recruitment and distension...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Pulmonary arterial hypertension carries a poor prognosis in both adult and pediatric patients. Current understanding of the mechanisms underlying pulmonary arterial hypertension has enabled the rapid development of appropriate drugs, such as endothelin receptor antagonists and 5-phosphodieste-rase inhibitors, that can be administered orally and which are generally we...

BACKGROUND The impact of short-term preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation on exercise capacity of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease undergoing lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer is evaluated. METHODS A prospective observational study was designed. Inclusion criteria consisted of an indication to lung resection because of a clinical stage I or II non-small cell lung can...

BACKGROUND Mustard repair for transposition of the great arteries (TGA) is frequently associated with impaired systemic (right) ventricular function and sometimes exercise intolerance. We hypothesized that a simple quantitative measurement of ventricular function, during rest and pharmacological stress, could identify abnormalities and predict objective exercise capacity. METHODS AND RESULTS ...

The aim of this study was to investigate pulmonary function and exercise capacity in a group of survivors of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). At 3 months after hospital discharge, 46 survivors of SARS underwent the following evaluation: spirometry, static lung volumes and carbon monoxide transfer factor (TL,CO). In total, 44 of these patients underwent cardiopulmonary exercise test...

Pulmonary hypertension is a pathophysiological condition characterized by an increase of mean pulmonary arterial pressure ≥25 mmHg at rest. Pulmonary hypertension may complicate multiple clinical disorders and invariably it reduces exercise and functional capacity and represents a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Although important progress in the pharmacotherapy of pulmonary arterial h...

Gas transfer in the female lung varies over the menstrual cycle in parallel with the cyclic angiogenesis that occurs in the uterine endometrium. Given that vessels form and regress in the uterus under the control of hormones, angiogenic factors, and proangiogenic circulating bone marrow-derived progenitor cells, we tested the possibility that variation in pulmonary gas transfer over the menstru...