Open AccessSmoking: Is it a Risk Factor for Pulmonary Vascular Diseases?
Author(s) -
Weissmann Norbert,
Grimminger Friedrich,
Seeger Werner
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
pulmonary circulation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.791
H-Index - 40
ISSN - 2045-8940
DOI - 10.4103/2045-8932.105027
Subject(s) - copd , medicine , chronic bronchitis , lung , pulmonary hypertension , hypoxia (environmental) , cardiology , lung transplantation , vascular remodelling in the embryo , pathology , chemistry , organic chemistry , oxygen
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) summarizes chronic bronchitis and lung emphysema. A major trigger for this disease is cigarette smoking. However, the occurrence and role of pulmonary vascular remodeling and pulmonary hypertension (PH) in COPD is not clarified yet. Although PH and lung vascular remodeling were thought to be infrequent events in COPD, recent clinical data estimate that 30-70% of patients with COPD also have PH.[1] In 50% of COPD patients evaluated for lung transplantation, mean pulmonary arterial pressure was above 25 mmHg.[2] In addition, a much larger portion of COPD patients may be affected by morphological changes of the lung vessels and/or borderline PH.[3-5] In this regard it has recently been stated that “moderate-to-severe PH is not a rare event” in COPD[2] and “numerous studies have shown that the presence of even mild PH is of prognostic relevance in patients with COPD.”[3]