Year: 1958
Type: article
Study design: Case Report
Abstract: The mechanics of breathing have recently been investigated in patients with a variety of pulmo- nary abnormalities including pulmonary conges- tion due to heart disease (1-3).The present report describes ventilatory mechanics in eight patients with frank pulmonary edema.The data were calculated from simultaneous oscillographic records of tidal volume, air-flow, and esophageal pressure.CLINICAL MATERIAL Eight patients were studied while in pulmonary edema, and seven of the eight patients were re- studied following recovery from pulmonary edema.The clinical criteria for the diagnosis of pulmonary edema were as follows: 1) moderate to marked dyspnea at rest, 2) moist rates over at least one- half of both lung fields in the absence of fever or other signs of pulmonary infection, 3) evidence of incapacitating heart disease with previous epi- sodes of pulmonary congestion or edema, 4) roentgenographic changes consistent with those seen in pulmonary edema where chest roentgeno- grams were available.In all cases except Case 7, rales were still present during the recovery study indicating the presence of pulmonary congestion.Three patients had rheumatic valvular heart dis- ease, three had arteriosclerotic heart disease, one had hypertensive cardiovascular disease and the remaining patient had myocardial fibrosis and abscess formation and severe anemia.Only in Case 2 was there evidence for any other lung dis- ease than pulmonary edema and congestion.A brief clinical account of each patient is presented in the Appendix.
DOI: 10.1172/jci103577
Language: English
Subfield: Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2168100129