Cor pulmonale (pulmonary heart disease): present-day status

Abstract

In reviewing the present-day status of cor pulmonale, it is clear that considerable progress has been made in almost all instances of the disease. It is clearly a preventable form of heart disease in most cases and it is treatable and curable in its most common form, i. e., in COPD. One must agree with Petty, that today we have effective means of caring for the majority of respiratory cripples. Therapy for lung disease now appears even to have reduced the expected rate of pulmonary function deterioration in some patients. Surely with improved gas exchange and early detection of respiratory insufficiency the outlook for patients with respiratory diseases leading to cor pulmonale is better today than it was 30 years ago.