Exercise hemodynamics in patients with COPD

Background and Aims: Pulmonary vascular disease is frequent in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and even patients with normal or mildly elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) at rest may have abnormal exercise hemodynamics. Hence, we aimed to investigate pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise and its association with exercise capacity. Patients and Methods: Patients with COPD (mPAP Results: We enrolled n=26 patients (66±11yr, FEV1:56±25%) and compared them to n=26 controls. At rest, COPD patients had slightly higher mPAP (19(15-24) vs. 17(14-19) mmHg, p=0.022) and pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) (2.6(1.4-3.0) vs. 1.7(1.1-2.2) WU, p=0.025). COPD patients reached lower maximum work load (50(50-100) vs. 100(75-125)W, p=0.002) and reduced peak oxygen uptake (VO2) (64(48-80) vs. 96(88-102) %predicted, p Conclusion: Pulmonary hemodynamics during exercise show characteristic changes in COPD and may contribute to exercise limitation. Validation of these data in larger cohorts is warranted.