Corpulmonale

Pulmonary heart disease, also known as Cor pulmonale is the enlargement and failure of the right ventricle of the heart as a response to increased vascular resistance or high blood pressure in the lungs. Chronic pulmonary heart disease usually results in right ventricular hypertrophy, whereas acute pulmonary heart disease usually results in dilatation. Hypertrophy is an adaptive response to a long-term increase in pressure. Individual muscle cells grow larger and change to drive the increased contractile force required to move the blood against greater resistance. Dilatation is a stretching of the ventricle in response to acute increased pressure, such as when caused by a pulmonary embolism or ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome. To be classified as pulmonary heart disease, the cause must originate in the pulmonary circulation system. Two major causes are vascular changes as a result of tissue damage, and chronic hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. If left untreated, then death may result. RVH due to a systemic defect is not classified as pulmonary heart disease. The heart and lungs are intricately related. Whenever the heart is affected by disease, the lungs will follow and vice versa. Pulmonary heart disease is by definition a condition when the lungs cause the heart to fail.