Cor Pulmonale

• #Esswein
• Chronic hypoxia, often found in patients with [[COPD]], will often result in an excess of red blood cells to compensate, called polycythemia
• Polycythemia results in added strain to the right side of the heart as it has to push a greater volume of thicker blood, leading to eventual heart failure called cor pulmonale
  • As the right side of the heart has an increased workload, it will hypertrophy, leading to pulmonary hypertension. Thus, [[COPD]] → polycythemia → pulmonary hypertension → right sided heart failure (aka cor pulmonale).
• As the right side of the heart begins to fail, excess fluid builds in the right atrium, resulting in a backup of blood in the vena ceva, resulting in a back up n the widespread vasculature, resulting in fluid leaking into the interstitial spaces, resulting in diffuse edema. This back up also results in increased afterload, leading to left sided cardiac insufficiency and pulmonary edema