Right and left ventricular dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. Assessment by first-pass radionuclide angiography.

To evaluate the relationship between right and left ventricular function in patients with obstructive lund disease, we studied 10 normal subjects (group 1) and 37 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by first pass radionuclide angiography. These 37 patients were divided into three groups: nine with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (group 2), 20 with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (group 3) and eight with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and primary left ventricular disease (group 4). In each subject right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and ejection fraction during first third of systole (first third LVEF) were calculated. (For table: see text.) p less than 0.05 versus 1. All subjects in group 2 had normal left ventricular and right ventricular function. In group 3, 11 of 10 (55 per cent) had a low RVEF and three of 20 (15 per cent) a low LVEF. However eight of 20 in this group (40 per cent) had a depressed first-third LVEF. The correlation between decline in RVEF and first-third LVEF was good r = 0.73. We conclude that (1) certain indices of early systolic left ventricular ejection are abnormal in many patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and correlate with the decline in right ventricular function; (2) this is not seen in patients with mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and is worse in patients with underlying left-sided heart disease.