Pulmonary Hypertension And General Anesthesia
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The problem of hypertension or high blood pressure is an acute one and this medical condition has made human beings suffer for a long time. In the twenty first century the cardio vascular problems are one of the predominant concerns among the medical researchers. Statistics say that a vast majority of the humankind suffers from hypertension and an even larger percentage of these people do not even know that they are suffering from this condition.
Our body is like a well oiled machine where a complex set of mechanisms are going on continuously and all the mechanisms work in tandem with each other to keep the body in a state of homeostasis. The homeostasis of the body is so finely balanced that even a minor change in the one of the smallest mechanisms can lead to the disruption of the homeostasis.
The heart is a big pumping station, which helps in the distribution of blood to the different regions of the body; the arteries are the pipelines through which the blood is supplied to the different organs. Generally the arteries have an elastic wal around them which makes it easier for them to modulate blood pressure, but with the advancement of age the diameter of the capillaries diminish and the walls become rigid. As the arteries are no longer able to modulate the flow of blood by themselves, what follows is the dramatic increase in the patient’s blood pressure.
Lung is one of the most important organs in the body of human beings; the lungs help the body respire by helping in gas exchange. Al the organs of our boy are usually highly vascularised and when it comes to the degree of vascularisation, the lungs are among the most highly vascularised organs. A dense meshwork of capillaries flows through the lungs and provides the alveoli with nutrition; these capillaries also play a vital role in gas exchange with the inspired air. Sometimes due to various reasons the capillaries may get constricted and this results in the increase of blood pressure in the lungs. The heart muscles become very weak in trying to force the blood through the constricted pulmonary capillaries and sometimes they may fail completely, leading to mortality.
Patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension suffer from lack of breath and most of the time they feel dizzy and complain of chest pain.
When it comes to anesthising a pulmonary hypertensive patient, the anesthologists face a big challenge; this is due to the fact that the risk of right sided heart failure is increased considerably in such patients. Sometimes administering of anesthesia can lead to a failure of the heart muscles on the right ventricle.
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