Vascular remodelling in the pulmonary circulation after major lung resection

• Published in: The European respiratory journal Vol. 50; no. 2; p. 1700806
• Main Authors: Rol, Nina, Happé, Chris, Beliën, Jeroen A M, de Man, Frances S, Westerhof, Nico, Vonk-Noordegraaf, Anton, Grünberg, Katrien, Bogaard, Harm J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England European Respiratory Society Journals Ltd 01-08-2017
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Animals; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung - therapy; Comparative studies; Drug Therapy; Female; Heart diseases; Humans; Lung - blood supply; Lung - surgery; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - therapy; Male; Pneumonectomy; Pulmonary arteries; Pulmonary artery; Pulmonary Circulation; Radiotherapy; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Vascular Remodeling
• ISSN: 0903-1936; 1399-3003
• DOI: 10.1183/13993003.00806-2017

Lung resection is a standard treatment in patients with clinical stages I and II and selected patients with stage IIIA nonsmall cell lung cancer [1]. Major lung resection (MLR), such as (bi)lobectomy or pneumonectomy, occasionally lead to pulmonary hypertension (PH). Several studies report an increase in pulmonary artery pressures in about one-third of these patients up to 5 years postoperatively [2–4]. The development of PH after MLR may be explained simply by the fact that total cardiac output flows through a smaller vascular bed. Because there are no reports in the literature of histological studies performed after MLR, it remains unknown whether flow-induced structural changes in the remaining lung vasculature lead to progressive increases in pulmonary vascular resistance.