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- https://doi.org/10.14260/jemds/2018/30
English
- Jan 8, 2018
- Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences
- Talari Swathi +3 more
BACKGROUNDChronic Obstructive Airways Disease or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is acknowledged by the WHO as the fourth commonest cause of death worldwide.The aim of the study is to analyse various cardiovascular manifestations of "COPD" with the help of Electrocardiography and Echocardiography. MATERIALS AND METHODSThis is a prospective observational study.Patients admitted in Department of Pulmonary Medicine, MediCiti Institute of Medical Sciences, Ghanpur with symptoms suggestive of airway obstruction of more than 2 years duration and in whom clinical diagnosis of COPD is made.They were subjected to investigations.Patients with FEV1/FVC ≤0.7 and FEV1< 80% of the predicted, which does not change significantly (<200 mL) after bronchodilator therapy with 0.3 mg of salbutamol nebulisation were included.The included patients would undergo Electrocardiography and Echocardiography for analysis. RESULTSTotal number of patients assessed (n): 50.Mean age of the patients in this study was 50.7.The common ECG changes seen in the present study were-Right axis deviation (28%), Incomplete RBBB (12%) and P Pulmonale (34%).The Echocardiography assessment showed that 44% of patients had evidence of elevated pulmonary artery pressure, 4 patients had right atrial dilatation, and 1 patient had pericardial effusion. CONCLUSIONElectrocardiography has high sensitivity in detecting pulmonary hypertension in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients as evidenced by P Pulmonale, right axis deviation, right ventricular hypertrophy.Majority of the patients with electrocardiographic evidence of pulmonary hypertension also had Echocardiographic evidence of elevated pulmonary artery pressure.