TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary artery pressure and bronchial nitric oxide flux JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P2310 AU - Michela Bellocchia AU - Antonio Ciuffreda AU - Alessandra Vecchiè AU - Lorena Mercante AU - Corrado Magnino AU - Alberto Milan AU - Irene Parisi AU - Daniela Libertucci AU - Walter Grosso Marra AU - Caterina Bucca Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P2310.abstract N2 - Nitric oxide (NO) produced in the airway may affect pulmonary vascular tone.We investigated the relationship between exhaled NO, lung function and pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) in patients undergoing cardiac catheterizationMETHODS:Patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography,lung function tests and exhaled NO at multiple flow-rates to calculate alveolar (CalvNO) and bronchial flux (JawNO).RESULTS:Patients were 62 men and 57 women,mean age 64 years (29-86),15 current smokers.Pulmonary hypertension (PH) was found in 65 (54%),9 in WHO group I,43 in group II,5 in group III,3 in group IV,5 in group V.JawNO was significantly inversely related to systolic (r=0.26 p=0.003) and mean PAP (r=0.24 p=0.036) and with transpulmonary gradient (r=0.27, p=0.02).CalvNO was not related to pulmonary pressures.The comparison between patients with and without PH,showed that PH was associated with significantly lower JawNO (39,5 vs 57,5 p=0.038),CalvNO (15 vs 11 p=0,04),VC (74% vs 84%, p=0.004),TLC (101% vs 91% p=0,04),TLCO (52% vs 75%, p<0.0001) and KCO (65% vs 79%, p=0.005).CONCLUSIONS:Bronchial NO flux is related to pulmonary artery pressure and to transpulmonary gradient.Patients with PH have decreased lung diffusing capacity.These findings suggest that measurement of exhaled NO might be used as a marker of increased pulmonary artery pressure in patients with heart disease. ER -