Morphometric analysis of pulmonary vascular remodeling in COPD

Einleitung: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a life-threatening disease characterized by increased pulmonary artery pressure, right heart hypertrophy, endothelial injury, proliferation, and hypercontraction of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs). COPD frequently complicates its natural evolution with association of PAH. In this context, COPD appears to be complex disease implying pulmonary vascular changes. Endothelial dysfunction has been so far described, but a therapy is not yet in clinical use. Our aim was to investigate the structural changes in the lung vasculature such as muscularization and vascu…