PULMONARY Vascular

Question 1

Chylothorax

Answer 1

A rare but serious condition in which lymph formed in the digestive system (chyle) accumulates in your chest cavity. Lymph is a fluid containing white blood cells and proteins that moves through your lymphatic system and drains into your bloodstream.
SYMPTOMS: severe cough, chest pain and difficulty breathing.
CAUSE: leakage of lymph from the thoracic duct into the pleural space (the space around the lungs). The thoracic duct is the largest lymphatic duct and typically transports lymph from the body to veins.

Question 2

Hemothorax

Answer 2

A collection of blood in the space between the chest wall and the lung (the pleural cavity).
SYMPTOMS:
Shortness of breath.
Rapid, shallow breathing.
Chest pain.
Low blood pressure (shock)
Pale, cool and clammy skin.
Rapid heart rate.
Restlessness.
Anxiety.
CAUSE: the most common cause is chest trauma, can also occur in people who have: A blood clotting defect, chest (thoracic) or heart surgery

Question 3

Pulmonary Edema

Answer 3

A condition caused by too much fluid in the lungs. This fluid collects in the many air sacs in the lungs, making it difficult to breathe. In most cases, heart problems cause pulmonary edema.
Sudden (acute) pulmonary edema symptoms
Difficulty breathing (dyspnea) or extreme shortness of breath that worsens with activity or when lying down
A feeling of suffocating or drowning that worsens when lying down
A cough that produces frothy sputum that may have blood in it
A rapid, irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
Anxiety, restlessness or a feeling that something bad is about to happen
Cold, clammy skin
Wheezing or gasping for breath
Long-term (chronic) pulmonary edema signs and symptoms
Awakening at night with a cough or breathless feeling that may be relieved by sitting up
Difficulty breathing with activity or when lying flat
Fatigue
More shortness of breath than usual when you’re physically active
New or worsening cough
Rapid weight gain
Swelling in the legs and feet
Wheezing
CAUSE:
The causes of pulmonary edema vary. Pulmonary edema falls into two categories, depending on where the problem starts.
If a heart problem causes the pulmonary edema, it’s called cardiogenic pulmonary edema. Most often, the fluid buildup in the lungs is due to a heart condition.
If pulmonary edema is not heart related, it’s called noncardiogenic pulmonary edema.
Sometimes, pulmonary edema can be caused by both a heart problem and a nonheart problem.

Question 4

Pulmonary Embolism (PE)

Answer 4

Occurs when a blood clot gets stuck in an artery in the lung, blocking blood flow to part of the lung. Blood clots most often start in the legs and travel up through the right side of the heart and into the lungs. This is called deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
SYMPTOMS
What are 3 signs and symptoms associated with a pulmonary embolism?
Shortness of breath. This symptom typically appears suddenly and always gets worse with exertion.
Chest pain. You may feel like you’re having a heart attack. …
Cough. The cough may produce bloody or blood-streaked sputum.
CAUSE:
In most cases, pulmonary embolism is caused by blood clots that travel to the lungs from deep veins in the legs or, rarely, from veins in other parts of the body (deep vein thrombosis). Because the clots block blood flow to the lungs, pulmonary embolism can be life-threatening

Question 5

Pulmonary Hypertension (PH)

Answer 5

When the pressure in the blood vessels leading from the heart to the lungs is too high. With pulmonary hypertension, the blood vessels to the lungs develop an increased amount of muscle in the wall of the blood vessels
SYMPTOMS:
shortness of breath.
tiredness.
feeling faint or dizzy.
chest pain (angina)
a racing heartbeat (palpitations)
swelling (oedema) in the legs, ankles, feet or tummy (abdomen)
CAUSE:
It’s usually a complication of heart disease or lung disease. But many other diseases and environmental factors can raise your risk for PH. Some common underlying causes of pulmonary hypertension include high blood pressure in the lungs’ arteries due to some types of congenital heart disease, connective tissue disease, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, liver disease (cirrhosis), blood clots to the lungs, and chronic lung diseases like emphysema

PH is most often defined as a mean PAP >25 mmHg at rest or >30 mmHg during exercise, the PAP being measured invasively with a pulmonary artery (PA) catheter.

Question 6

Pulmonary Infarction

Answer 6

When some of the lung tissue does not receive enough blood flow and oxygen and appears on imaging studies to die due to blockage of a lung blood vessel by a pulmonary embolus. Usually, the embolus causing pulmonary infarction is small. The symptoms of pulmonary infarction develop over hours.
SYMPTOMS:
cough with blood-stained sputum, sharp chest pain when breathing in, and in some cases fever. Symptoms of infarction often last several days but usually become milder every day.
CAUSE:
Although pulmonary infarction is usually associated with pulmonary thromboembolism, it can occur with other disorders such as vasculitis, angioinvasive infections, sickle-cell disease, tumor embolism, and pulmonary torsion. While small pulmonary infarctions usually have no long-term consequences, large infarctions can cause enough lung damage to produce chronic symptoms, and can even become fatal.