Respiratory Function in Pulmonary Thromboembolic Disorders.

Pulmonary embolism is now known to be a common disorder, but it is often difficult to diagnose, particularly when recurrent embolization gradually leads to the development of obstructive pulmonary hypertension. The abnormalities of pulmonary function produced by emboli have been the subject of several recent reports ; many of these studies, however, have been performed in the acute phase following an embolus, and in patients with complicating heart or lung disease or recovering from major operations. As pulmonary function may be disturbed by these conditions, the extent to which the abnormalities found were related to the effects of embolism alone has often been uncertain. In the present work some aspects of pulmonary function have been studied, with particular emphasis on the response to exercise, in a group of patients suffering from thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension or recovering from one or more emboli. In order to establish the extent to which abnormal function reflects the severity of the disease, the results have been related to the findings at cardiac catheterization and to the angiographic appearances.