Aim: to study lung diffusion capacity and efficiency of pulmonary ventilation in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) depending on the severity of pulmonary hypertension.
Materials and methods: The study included 139 patients with CTEPH. The parameters of body plethysmography, lung diffusion capacity, efficiency of pulmonary ventilation and their interrelation with results of angiopulmonography were assessed.
Results: Patients were divided according to systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP): group 1 - < 50, group 2 - 50-80, group 3 - > 80 mm Hg. The lung diffusion capacity and the efficiency of pulmonary ventilation in patients with CTEPH were reduced against the background of normal spirometric parameters, most pronouncedly in group 3. Regression analysis revealed an inverse relationship between severity of pulmonary hypertension and lung diffusion capacity (regression coefficient -13.7 [-19.1; -8.3], p 80 mm Hg. The results of the study demonstrate the close relationship between pulmonary hypertension and respiratory ventilation-diffusion disorders in patients with CTEPH.
Keywords: chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension; lung diffusion capacity; pulmonary gas exchange.