Investigation of arterial–cardiac–pulmonary interaction

Pulmonary function and arterial stiffness correlate significantly, attributing to the chronic inflammation of atherosclerosis. However, through the pulmonary or systemic circulation, pulmonary and vascular functions associate hemodynamically with cardiac morphology and function. In the present study, we investigated arterial–cardiac–pulmonary interaction by examining how the pulmonary and vascular functions correlate with the heart. This study investigated 55 consecutive subjects not suffering from pulmonary, vascular and cardiac disease who underwent health screening test at our medical center. First, the presence of atherosclerotic disease (hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes) and smoking status of the patients were determined. Next, pulmonary function test, vascular function test including cardio-ankle vascular index, and echocardiography were performed. Then, we examined the correlation among the pulmonary, vascular and the heart. Our results revealed many correlations among these three factors. Especially left atrial dimension (LAD) and E/A ratio (E/A) were important cardiac factors associated with both pulmonary and vascular functions independently. Conventionally, inflammatory responses are known to involve in the correlation between pulmonary and vascular functions. Our study demonstrated that cardiac function and morphology were also involved in this correlation, signifying that LAD and E/A plays important roles in the arterial–cardiac–pulmonary interaction.