High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema in Persons without the Right Pulmonary Artery

Abstract

HIGH-ALTITUDE pulmonary edema is an unusual and puzzling illness.1,2 We have seen four patients without a right pulmonary artery, all of whom had high-altitude pulmonary edema at moderate altitudes (2000 to 3000 m) in Colorado. Both of these conditions are so uncommon that their association by chance is highly unlikely. The implications of this association were recognized by Dr. Houston when the first of our four cases was called to his attention by another member of the group. In each of the four patients edema developed in the left lung, which received the entire right ventricular output. This occurrence . . .