[Morphofunctional characteristics of pulmonary and bronchial arteries in bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, idiopathic fibrosing alveolitis].

Morphological and morphometric studies have shown that secondary pulmonary hypertension is characterized by more pronounced pathological changes in the pulmonary arterial branches in severe chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD) than in idiopathic fibrosing alveolitis. Secondary pulmonary hypertension does develop in atopic bronchial asthma. Moreover, there are more significant pathological changes in the pulmonary arteries than in the bronchial ones. In severe COLD, the development of emphysema affects that of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

[Idiopathic and secondary pulmonary hypertension].

In the available literature, there are single papers on the association of the values of external respiratory function and the EchoCG sings of pulmonary hypertension with the morphological parameters of pulmonary arterial branches in idiopathic pulmonary hypertension (IPH) and secondary pulmonary hypertension (SPH). The present investigation comprised a comprehensive study of life-time functional changes in the cardiopulmonary system and postmortem morphometric changes in the heart and pulmonary vessels in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF)-induced SPH and IPH. The investigation has indicated that PPH and SPH are characterized by the same-type rearrangement of pulmonary arterial branches as intimal hyperplasia and medial hypertrophy; however, IPH, as compared with SPH, induces a more significant cor pulmonale. The magnitude of right and left ventricular dysfunction corresponds to the degree of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and cor pulmonale. In IPF, the decreases in tidal volumes and pulmonary diffusion capacity favor PH progression.