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Chapter: Medical Physiology: Pulmonary Circulation, Pulmonary Edema, Pleural Fluid

Pulmonary Edema

Pulmonary edema occurs in the same way that edema occurs elsewhere in the body.

Pulmonary Edema

Pulmonary edema occurs in the same way that edema occurs elsewhere in the body. Any factor that causes the pulmonary interstitial fluid pressure to rise from the negative range into the positive range will cause rapid filling of the pulmonary interstitial spaces and alveoli with large amounts of free fluid.

The most common causes of pulmonary edema are as follows:

1.     Left-sided heart failure or mitral valve disease, with consequent great increases in pulmonary venous pressure and pulmonary capillary pressure and flooding of the interstitial spaces and alveoli.

 

2.     Damage to the pulmonary blood capillary membranes caused by infections such as pneumonia or by breathing noxious substances such as chlorine gas or sulfur dioxide gas. Each of these causes rapid leakage of both plasma proteins and fluid out of the capillaries and into both the lung interstitial spaces and the alveoli.


“Pulmonary Edema Safety Factor.” Experiments in animalshave shown that the pulmonary capillary pressure nor-mally must rise to a value at least equal to the colloid osmotic pressure of the plasma inside the capillaries before significant pulmonary edema will occur. To give an example, Figure 38–7 shows how different levels of left atrial pressure increase the rate of pulmonary edema formation in dogs. Remember that every time the left atrial pressure rises to high values, the pul-monary capillary pressure rises to a level 1 to 2 mm Hg greater than the left atrial pressure. In these experi-ments, as soon as the left atrial pressure rose above 23 mm Hg (causing the pulmonary capillary pressure to rise above 25 mm Hg), fluid began to accumulate in the lungs. This fluid accumulation increased even more rapidly with further increases in capillary pressure. The plasma colloid osmotic pressure during these experi-ments was equal to this 25 mm Hg critical pressure level. Therefore, in the human being, whose normal plasma colloid osmotic pressure is 28 mm Hg, one can predict that the pulmonary capillary pressure must rise from the normal level of 7 mm Hg to more than 28 mm Hg to cause pulmonary edema, giving an acutesafety factor against pulmonary edema of 21 mm Hg.



Safety Factor in Chronic Conditions. When the pul-monary capillary pressure remains elevated chronically (for at least 2 weeks), the lungs become even more resistant to pulmonary edema because the lymph vessels expand greatly, increasing their capability of car-rying fluid away from the interstitial spaces perhaps as much as 10-fold. Therefore, in patients with chronic mitral stenosis, pulmonary capillary pressures of 40 to 45 mm Hg have been measured without the develop-ment of lethal pulmonary edema.

Rapidity of Death in Acute Pulmonary Edema. When the pul-monary capillary pressure rises even slightly above the safety factor level, lethal pulmonary edema can occur within hours, or even within 20 to 30 minutes if the cap-illary pressure rises 25 to 30 mm Hg above the safety factor level. Thus, in acute left-sided heart failure, in which the pulmonary capillary pressure occasionally does rise to 50 mm Hg, death frequently ensues in less than 30 minutes from acute pulmonary edema.


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Medical Physiology: Pulmonary Circulation, Pulmonary Edema, Pleural Fluid : Pulmonary Edema |


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