Extract
Despite a preserved forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/vital capacity (VC), patients with idiopathic or heritable pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) may dynamically decrease their inspiratory capacity (IC) during cycle exercise (i.e. dynamic hyperinflation) [1–3] and this could increase exertional dyspnoea [1, 3, 4]. Little information is currently available about whether the reduced IC during cycle exercise is related to respiratory mechanics abnormalities or to impaired inspiratory muscle function (fatigue or weakness). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between inspiratory muscle activity, dynamic changes in IC and the intensity of dyspnoea in PAH patients undergoing incremental symptom-limited cardiopulmonary cycle exercise test (CPET).
Abstract
PAH patients had preserved inspiratory muscle function regardless of changes in dynamic IC during cycle exercise http://ow.ly/IoSL5
Acknowledgements
Some of the results of this study were reported in the form of an abstract at the European Respiratory Society International Congress which was held in Munich, Germany, in September 2014: Laveneziana P, Garcia G, Humbert M, et al. Exertional dyspnoea, dynamic hyperinflation and respiratory muscle function in idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAHi). Eur Respir J 2014; 44: Suppl. 58, P4890.
Footnotes
Support statement: P. Laveneziana was supported by: 1) the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union, Support for training and career development of researchers (Marie Curie), International Re-integration Grants (IRG), FP7-PEOPLE-2010-RG, grant number: PIRG07-GA-2010-268396-EDPAH; 2) PFIZER Investigator-Initiated Research (IIR), grant number: WS 942458; and 3) HTAP France. Funding information for this article has been deposited with FundRef.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside the online version of this article at erj.ersjournals.com
- Received August 20, 2014.
- Accepted January 8, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015