A Clinical Review on Cor Pulmonale

ABSTRACT

A clinical review was made on 48 cases with cor pulmonale who were admitted to medical department, National Medical Center, between 1973 and 1982, and the results were as follows 1) Teh age of subjects ranged from 26 to 88, and their mean was 51. male to female ratio was 1.61 and majority of them were in their 6th and 7th decade. 2) COPD was the most common cause of cor pulmonale but pulmonary tuberculosis had also a considerable portion. Less commonly it was caused by chest deformity which was mainly from spine tuberculosis and kyphoscoliosis. 3) Almost all patients were admitted with over heart failure. 4) Laboratory features showed indirect evidence of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension in chest X-ray films, RVH patterns in EKG and hypoxia and hypertcapnea with metabolic compensation in arterial gas analysis. 5) The case fatality rate was one-forth and that from kyphoscoliosis was especially high(80%).