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Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine pp 65–68Cite as

Pulmonary vascular resistance A meaningless variable?

Abstract

Almost 20 years ago, Adriaan Versprille published an editorial in this journal to explain why, in his opinion, the calculation of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) is meaningless [1]. The uncertainties of PVR were underscored a year later by McGregor and Sniderman in the American Journal of Cardiology [2]. Obviously, both papers failed to convince. A Medline search from 1985 to the end of 2002 reveals no less than 7,158 papers with PVR calculations. What is it that could be wrong in all this literature?

Keywords

  • Pulmonary Vascular Resistance
  • Pulmonary Circulation
  • Pulmonary Blood Flow
  • Vasomotor Tone
  • Alveolar Pressure

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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References

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  1. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine of the Free University of Brussels, Erasme Campus, 808 Route de Lennik, CP 604,, 1070, Brussels, Belgium

    Robert Naeije

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  1. Robert Naeije
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    Naeije, R. (2009). Pulmonary vascular resistance A meaningless variable?. In: Hedenstierna, G., Mancebo, J., Brochard, L., Pinsky, M. (eds) Applied Physiology in Intensive Care Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01769-8_16

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01769-8_16

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