Body Weight and Body Water in Chronic Cor Pulmonale

Abstract

1. Body weight was measured through forty consecutive illnesses in seventeen patients with oedema in association with chronic bronchitis and hypoxia. All patients were taking diuretic drugs at the time. 2. Body weight increased little as peripheral oedema and a raised jugular venous pressure appeared. The subsequent weight-loss during treatment was usually greater than the pre-treatment weight-gain. Body weight increased slowly in convalescence to equal or exceed hospital admission weight without a deterioration of general health or reappearance of oedema. 3. Total body water, exchangeable sodium and exchangeable potassium were measured in patients after treatment of the acute illness and clearance of oedema and again in six patients of the group 2-3 months later in convalescence. Total exchangeable sodium was normal or slightly reduced after treatment of oedema and in convalescence between recurrent acute illnesses. Even when gross oedema was present exchangeable sodium was substantially increased in only one of three patients studied at this stage. Total exchangeable potassium was invariably severely depressed. 4. Large changes of body tissue weight without comparable change in exchangeable sodium support previous evidence that oedema in hypoxic bronchitis is not simply a further form of congestive cardiac failure. 5. It is suggested that at least some of the tissue loss in acute exacerbations is a direct result of hypoxaemia and similar to that observed at high altitude. Part of the oedema fluid is thought to be derived from intracellular water released during dissolution of tissue matrix.

Total body and exchangeable potassium in chronic airways obstruction: a controversial area?

“…This finding confirms that of Telfer and colleagues (1975), who found significantly higher values (an increase of 20%) at 48 hours than at 24 hours in similar patients, and suggests that apparent deficiencies of potassium derived from 24-hour values of Ke (Baum et al, 1959;Bauer et al, 1966;Telfer et al, 1968;Campbell et al, 1975) There remains an unexplained discrepancy between the gross potassium depletion reported (Schloerb et al, 1970;Telfer et al, 1975) at 48 hours after administration of 42K and our previous (Howie et al, 1976) and present findings. However, it is interesting to note in the study of Telfer et al (1975) that both the value of Ke at 48 hours per'litre of intracellular water and the volume of intracellular water were normal.…”

Fluid homeostasis in chronic obstructive lung disease

“…For instance, CAMPBELL et al [8] found that exchangeable sodium was not only normal after treatment for oedema but also in two of three patients when gross oedema had developed again. This would mean that oedema formation is not, or at least not always, simply due to accumulation but rather to redistribution of fluid.…”

Co-Morbidities and Systemic Effects of COPD

“…The mechanisms by which patients with COPD retain salt and water are not completely understood. Little information is available on changes in body fluid volumes in patients with COPD, and the few available data are conflicting [112][113][114][115][116]. Although there is certainly volume excess at advanced stages when gross oedema is present, the extent to which expansion of the extracellular volume occurs at earlier stages is not clear.…”