TY - JOUR T1 - Is the time constant of the pulmonary circulation truly constant? JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J SP - 1541 LP - 1542 DO - 10.1183/09031936.00174213 VL - 43 IS - 5 AU - Robert Naeije AU - Marion Delcroix Y1 - 2014/05/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/43/5/1541.abstract N2 - From the authors:J.C. Grignola points out that the product of pulmonary vascular resistance by pulmonary vascular compliance, or time constant (RC time) of the pulmonary circulation is not truly constant, and that this impacts on the pulsatile component (Wosc) of right ventricular hydraulic load (Wtot).He is right. But the question is, by how much? In the experimental study by Pagnamenta et al. [1], pulmonary hypertension induced by ensnarement of the pulmonary arteries, to mimic purely proximal chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), was associated with a decrease in RC time from 0.5 s to 0.3 s, while microembolism to mimic purely distal obstruction, like in pulmonary arterial hypertension … ER -