Pulmonary heart
General information about the disease
Cor pulmonale is a pathology that has attracted close attention of researchers for over 200 years. The interest of specialists in this disease is far from accidental, because it often leads to early disability of people and causes death. When diagnosing cor pulmonale, treatment and prognosis depend on how timely the doctors were able to determine the cause of the disease. This process is very complex and laborious, since at the early stages of development the cor pulmonale retains potential reversibility and practically does not manifest itself in any way. On the other hand, the acute form of the disease rapidly progresses to chronic cor pulmonale, and the treatment of the formed disease is a difficult and often unpromising task. It is for this reason that thousands of specialists are working on new methods for diagnosing the disease and the development of modern drugs, with the help of which it would be possible to make the life of patients easier and prevent disability of the working population.
So what exactly is a cor pulmonale? This term refers to the whole complex of cardiac disorders associated with hemodynamics and developing after the postponed diseases of the bronchopulmonary apparatus. Note that in the early stages of development, the disease does not pose a particular danger. On the other hand, chronic cor pulmonale leads to circulatory failure and morphological changes in the right ventricle. As a result, people become disabled and can die from sudden cardiac arrest.
Cor pulmonale - symptoms and classification of the disease
According to the peculiarities of development, experts distinguish acute, subacute and chronic forms of the disease. Acute cor pulmonale develops within a few hours or days, subacute - in weeks or months, chronic - is formed against the background of a long-term pathological process. In the case of the chronic form, the disease goes through three stages:
- Stage I - the symptoms of cor pulmonale are detected only with instrumental examination and are characterized by pulmonary hypertension with minor pathologies of the right ventricle;
- Stage II - there is no circulatory failure, the disease manifests itself as signs of right ventricular hypertrophy and stable hypertension;
- Stage III - all signs of stable right ventricular failure appear, that is, manifestations of decompensated cor pulmonale.
Now let's talk about what symptoms are characteristic for each form of the disease. Acute cor pulmonale manifests itself:
- chest pain;
- sharp, rapid breathing;
- a drop in blood pressure (in some cases, this can lead to collapse);
- increasing tachycardia;
- increased venous pressure;
- enlarged liver;
- swelling of the neck veins.
In turn, chronic cor pulmonale is recognized by symptoms of hyperfunction, and then hypertrophy of the right ventricle. To do this, use: ECG, chest x-ray and other instrumental methods. During the transition to the third stage, chronic cor pulmonale has pronounced clinical symptoms: tachycardia, swelling of the cervical veins, an increase in the size of the liver and pulsation of the right ventricle, determined by palpation.
Pulmonary heart - disease treatment
The main therapeutic measures are aimed at eliminating the underlying disease and symptoms of respiratory failure. Patients are prescribed bronchodilators, respiratory analeptics, expectorants. With decompensation of cor pulmonale, treatment is carried out with glucocorticoids (most often prednisolone is used).
Arterial pulmonary hypertension is relieved by eufellin, nifedipine, nitrates (nitrosorbide and nitroglycerin). At the same time, doctors constantly monitor the oxygen content in the blood in order to prevent an increase in hypoxemia. To slow down the rate of development of pathology, diuretics and glycosides are used. The latter should be used with the greatest care, since the myocardium is very sensitive to their effects. With frequent use of diuretics, preference is given to potassium-sparing drugs (aldactone, triampur).
Prevention of cor pulmonale consists in the timely detection of the underlying disease, which led to the development of pathological processes. The list of diseases due to which an acute or chronic pulmonary heart appears has long been known, and doctors who are responsible for their work always take into account the risk of such complications. In particular, patients with chronic bronchopulmonary diseases are subject to compulsory dispensary observation, the purpose of which is to prevent exacerbations and therapy of respiratory failure.
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The information is generalized and provided for informational purposes only. At the first sign of illness, see your doctor. Self-medication is hazardous to health!
