Systemic microangiopathy in Eisenmenger syndrome – The missing link?

More than a century ago, Victor Eisenmenger published the case of a “powerfully-built” man in his thirties with longstanding cyanosis and effort-induced breathlessness, who eventually developed heart failure, oedema and died suddenly following “violent” haemoptysis. The patient, who was found to have a large ventricular septal defect (VSD) on autopsy, repres ented the first case in the scientific literature of what would posthumously be called Eisenmenger complex. Sixty years later, Paul Wood described the core pathophysiological features of Eisenmenger syndrome (ES): severe pulmonary vascular disease with systemic levels of pulmonary vascular resistanc e and shunt reversal across a congenital heart defect causing chronic cyanosis.
Source: International Journal of Cardiology - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Editorial Source Type: research