Effects of Different Types of Physical Training in Patients With Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

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Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by pathological changes in the pulmonary vasculature which cause an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), restricting the flow of blood through the pulmonary circulation. It is a serious illness, progressive and usually fatal which ca...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by pathological changes in the pulmonary vasculature which cause an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR), restricting the flow of blood through the pulmonary circulation. It is a serious illness, progressive and usually fatal which causes significant functional limitation, mainly due to dyspnea. In order to maintain the flow of blood, pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) increases and the disease progresses leading to right ventricular dysfunction and right heart failure. Regardless of the cause of PAH, the pulmonary arteries and arterioles have reduced capacity, and increases in cardiac output during exercise is limited. As a result, the delivery of oxygen to peripheral muscles is impaired, contributing to the symptoms of fatigue and dyspnea. While the limitation of the cardiac output to meet peripheral oxygen demand during exercise largely reduces exercise capacity, musculoskeletal dysfunction may also be involved in the exercise limitation in patients with PAH. Changes such as, muscle atrophy, decreased oxidative enzymes and a greater number of type II muscle fibers lead to an early lactic acidosis and decreased functional capacity. A modest evidence exists that exercise training can be done without adverse effects or damage to cardiac and / or pulmonary hemodynamics however, the effectiveness PAH requires more research.

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