[Influence of mixed venous blood PO2 on the pulmonary arterial pressure in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD): correlations in 128 patients].

Hypoxic vasoconstriction is one of the main determinants of pulmonary arterial hypertension in C.O.P.D. The authors study in two groups of respiratory insufficiency patients (82 C.O.P.D. and 46 non-C.O.P.D.) correlations between mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and gasometric values. They show that: --no correlation exists in the patients who suffer from a restrictive syndrome; --in the obstructive patients, correlations are poorer between PAP and PaO2 or PvO2 than between PAP and a factor made up of these two parameters, according to the percentage of their theoretical values.