Study of Clinical Profile of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Evaluation of Pulmonary Hypertension With Ecg and 2d Echo Findings

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe recent definition by American Thoracic Society defines chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as a disease characterised by the presence of air flow obstruction due to chronic bronchitis or emphysema, which is generally progressive, maybe accompanied by airway hyperactivity and maybe partially reversible. In India, COPD is the second most common lung disorder after pulmonary TB. Tobacco smoking is by far the most important risk factor for COPD. Smoking cessation is the only intervention which has shown to slow down the progress of the disease. COPD should be considered in any patient presenting with cough, sputum production, or dyspnoea, especially if an exposure to risk factors for the disease has been present. Clinical diagnosis needs to be confirmed by standardised spirometric tests in the presence of incompletely reversible airflow limitation. Pulmonary arterial hypertension is the major cardiovascular complication of COPD and is associated with the development of Right ventricular hypertrophy (cor pulmonale) and is associated with poor prognosis. ECG is a simple bedside investigation, and right ventricular hypertrophy on ECG has a reasonably high specificity. Detectable tricuspid regurgitation by Echo Doppler is probably the best technique to measure pulmonary artery pressure noninvasively. Therefore, the present study is conducted to correlate the diagnostic values of ECG and Echo findings in COPD patients, which help in early detection of cardiac complications of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease giving time for early intervention.

A narrative review of research advances in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension

“…As a simple diagnostic method, although electrocardiogram (ECG) cannot exclude the existence of pulmonary hypertension, it can still provide a valuable diagnostic basis. Patients with pulmonary hypertension may have pulmonary type-P wave, right axis deviation, right ventricular hypertrophy, right bundle branch block, QTc prolongation, and so on (13)(14)(15).…”