[Expert Workshop COPD: Lungs and Heart - Quite Often Ill Together].

[Expert Workshop COPD: Lungs and Heart - Quite Often Ill Together]. Pneumologie. 2019 Sep 09;: Authors: Jany B, Bals R, Dreher M, Held M, Jany L, Rembert Koczulla A, Pfeifer M, Randerath W, Watz H, Wilkens H, Steinkamp G Abstract When caring for patients with respiratory diseases, always think of the heart! This is especially important for COPD patients, but also for a variety of other disorders of the respiratory system. At the workshop "Luftschlösser", held once more at Wiesbaden, Germany in February 2019 the many and important interactions of the lungs and the heart as well as the therapeutic implications were discussed. Based on pathophysiology, the psycho-social consequences of dyspnea, the leading symptom in patients with lung and heart disease became apparent. A particularly demanding diagnostic and therapeutic situation occurs in patients suffering simultaneously of lung and heart disease. It has been shown how frequently the diagnosis myocardial infarction is missed in COPD patients - and vice versa. Surprisingly, this is also the case in asthmatics with coronary heart disease or heart failure, a fact not readily known in clinical practice. In patients with emphysema and no apparent heart disease, hyperinflation leads to significantly restricted heart function. Reducing hyperinflation by inhaling broncholytics thus improves heart function. Biomarkers are increasingly being used for diagnostic purposes. Their role is being i...
Source: Pneumologie - Category: Respiratory Medicine Tags: Pneumologie Source Type: research