Chest
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Validation of a method to screen for pulmonary hypertension in advanced idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
We have developed a method to screen for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients, based on a formula to predict mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) from standard lung function measurements. The objective of this study was to validate this method in a separate group of IPF patients. ⋯ A prediction formula for MPAP using standard lung function measurements can be used to screen for PH in IPF patients.
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Comparative Study
The relationship between the components of pulmonary artery pressure remains constant under all conditions in both health and disease.
The relationships among systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP), diastolic pulmonary artery pressure (DPAP), and mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) have been found to be constant in humans breathing air, at rest, while supine. It would be important for those studying the pulmonary circulation if this relationship were maintained under other circumstances, such as change in posture, during exercise, or after pharmacologic manipulation. In particular, it would be useful if the relationship were maintained when treating pulmonary hypertension because this would allow different methods of measurement to be compared, such as SPAP from echocardiography and MPAP from right heart catheterization. ⋯ SPAP, MPAP, and DPAP were strongly related, and these relationships were maintained under varying conditions. This finding will allow comparison between invasive and noninvasive descriptions of pulmonary hemodynamics found in the literature.