International Journal of Medical Arts (Mar 2022)
Echocardiographic Abnormalities in Obstructive Airway Disease
Abstract
Background: Obstructive airway disease is a common condition with airflow limitation due to exposure to exposure to noxious agents. Its main characteristics are the preventable and treatable nature of the disease. It includes bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is a major cause of mortality, and associated cardiovascular abnormalities are suggested as the cause of morbidity and mortality. The Aim of The work: The current study aimed to evaluate the cardiac dysfunctions in COPD by echocardiography.Patients and Methods: This work included 60 patients with stable COPD who presented at Chest Diseases Department, Al-Azhar University Hospital (Assiut) from December 2018 till October 2020. All were submitted to Spirometry. Then, they were classified according to The Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) guidelines (2019). Then cardiac evaluation was performed by echocardiography.Results: Left ventricle (LV) systolic dysfunction did not discovered in any of the studied patient. However, LV diastolic dysfunction was reported in 30%. In addition, 16.6% had right ventricle dilatation, and 71.7% had tricuspid regurge of different grades; the majority were of moderate grade. Furthermore, 56.0% had pulmonary hypertension. However, the majority of them were of mild degree. Its higher incidence was associated with severe and very severe COPD disease. Finally, there was a significant proportional correlation between disease severity and echocardiographic data, mainly size of the right ventricle, tricuspid regurgitation and pulmonary hypertension. Conclusion: LV diastolic dysfunction is frequent in COPD. However, it is not related to the COPD disease severity. The main abnormalities were of the right heart. Pulmonary hypertension when present has a linear relationship with disease severity.
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