ABSTRACT
Diaz, Gabriel F., Alicia Marquez, Ariel Ruiz-Parra, Maurice Beghetti, and Dunbar Ivy. An acute hyperoxia test predicts survival in children with pulmonary hypertension living at high altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 22:395-405, 2021. Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) causes significant morbidity and mortality in children at altitude. Materials and Methods: Fifty-two children living at 2,640 m were included. During hyperoxia test (O2Test), patients received high oxygen concentrations (FiO2 >80, through Mask, using Venturi or nonrebreathing mask); echocardiography was used to evaluate pulmonary vasculature reactivity. A decrease >20% from the basal pulmonary artery systolic pressure was considered a positive response. Results: Most of the patients had severe PH. The median age at diagnosis was 4.5 years; 34 were female (65.4%). Idiopathic PH was present in 44 patients (84.6%). Six developed severe PH after ductus closure. They were classified in responders (n = 25), and nonresponders (n = 26). Responders were younger (3 years vs. 7 years, p = 0.02), and 22 (88%), had better functional class (FC) 1-2, than nonresponders: 18 (69.23%) of them had worse FC: 3-4 (p = 0.000). In responders, 10/12 who went to live at low altitude became asymptomatic, compared with 7/13 who remained at high altitude. FC 1-2 was achieved by 70% of the patients with idiopathic PH who went to a low altitude, compared with 30% who continued at high altitude (p = 0.03). In nonresponders, 10/26 patients moved to a low altitude: four improved, one worsened, and five died; of the 16/26 patients living at high altitude, four are stable, eight worsened, and four died. Four patients (30.76%) in responder group and nine (69.24%) in the nonresponder group died (p = 0.03). There were differences between both groups in systolic (88 mm Hg vs. 110 mm Hg; p = 0.037), diastolic (37 mm Hg vs. 56 mm Hg; p = 0.035), and mean pulmonary artery pressures (57 mm Hg vs. 88 mm Hg; p = 0.038). Conclusions: This specific hyperoxia test applied until 24 hours (not published before) helps to predict survival and prognosis of children with PH. Children with PH at a high altitude improve at low altitude.
Subject(s)
Altitude Sickness , Hyperoxia , Hypertension, Pulmonary , Altitude , Child , Diastole , Female , Humans , Hypertension, Pulmonary/etiologyABSTRACT
South America is a territory of 17,819,100 km(2), where â¼388 million people live in 13 countries. In the region, access to medical assistance (e.g., for treatment of cardiovascular disorders) is relatively easy in metropolitan areas but difficult in remote places such as the Andes and the Amazon. Altitudes up to â¼6,700 m influence the prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In tertiary centers, CHD is now treated earlier in life but remains an important etiology of PAH. In adolescents and adults with PAH assisted at institutions devoted to treatment of cardiovascular disorders, the relative frequency of PAH-CHD (â¼50%-60%) is even higher than that of idiopathic PAH. In one big tertiary center in São Paulo, Brazil, the prevalence of advanced PAH in children and adults with CHD is 1.2% and 4.2%, respectively. In young patients with cardiac septal defects (aged up to 2 years), pulmonary vascular abnormalities are a matter of concern in the decision about operability in 4.9% of cases. Access to specific PAH drugs is not uniform in South America, being unrealistic in remote places. In big cities, there are real possibilities for management of complex CHD, neonatal disorders, and even cardiac transplantation. Research activities have been implemented at clinical, translational, and basic levels. However, because of social and economic inequalities and political issues, access to best standards of medical care remains a problem in the region as a whole.
ABSTRACT
Se reporta la carencia de estudios sobre la relación entre hipertensión pulmonar y altura en niños y, con base en la fisiología de esta última, se hace énfasis en la importancia de la hipoxia hipobárica, que desempeña un papel determinante en la etio y biopatogénesis de la hipertensión pulmonar del habitante de la altura. En cuanto a la biopatogénesis, se señala la importancia de la hiperreactividad del lecho vascular pulmonar y su correcta evaluación. De igual forma, se resumen las patologías relacionadas con hipertensión pulmonar en el niño habitante de la altura y, finalmente, en lo que respecta al tratamiento de la hipertensión pulmonar del habitante de la altura, se resalta, a través de la evolución de casos clínicos, la importancia de vivir a baja altura sobre el nivel del mar.
We report the lack of studies on the relationship between pulmonary hypertension and altitude above sea level in children, and based on the physiology of the latter we emphasize the importance of hypobaric hypoxia, which plays a determinant role in the etiology and bio-pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension of the altitude inhabitants. Regarding the bio-pathogenesis, we indicate the importance of the hyper-reactivity of the pulmonary vascular bed and its correct evaluation. Similarly, we make a summary of pathologies related to pulmonary hypertension in the child living in the altitude, and finally, with respect to the treatment of pulmonary hypertension of the altitude inhabitants, we highlight through the evolution of clinical cases the importance of living at low altitude above sea level.
Subject(s)
Humans , Altitude Sickness , Hypertension , HypoxiaABSTRACT
En base a nuestra experiencia en la Unidad de Cardiología Neonatal del I.M.I con la coartación aórtica que se manifiesta en el neonato presentamos sus características haciendo hincapié en su severidad y analizamos los diferentes aspectos acocardiográficos señalando que este examen practicado por personal entrenado y con equipo adecuado hace innecesario el cateterismo cardíaco. Al final se analiza el enfoque quirúrgico, principalmente lo relacionado con la técnica quirúrgica más adecuada: Aortoplastia con subclavia Vs Anastomosis término-terminal
