Pulmonary Hypertension in Heart Disease

Abstract

THE pulmonary circulation is of paramount importance in failure of the heart. The presence of dyspnea, orthopnea and hemoptysis and a diminution in vital capacity imply a profound change in the blood vessels of the lungs. Unfortunately, the pulmonary circulation, being effectively enclosed within the thorax, has proved inaccessible to quantitative measurements until recently.In spite of this lack of quantitative evidence, clinicians and pathologists have been able to deduce from indirect evidence the course of events in the pulmonary circulation in heart disease. The importance of hypertension of the pulmonary circulation in the natural history of mitral stenosis has . . .