Textbook of Pulmonary Vascular Disease

Textbook of Pulmonary Vascular Diseases combines basic scientific knowledge on the pulmonary circulatory system at levels of the molecule, cell, tissue, and organ with clinical diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary vascular diseases. State-of-the-art techniques and their potential applications in research, diagnosis, and treatment of pulmonary vascular diseases are also covered.
The major function of the lungs is gas exchange and it does this using a low resistance circulation. The pulmonary circulation (or the pulmonary vasculature) is a unique system that differs dramatically from the systemic circulatory system (e.g., coronary, cerebral, renal arteries) in structure, function, and regulation. A typical example of functional differences between the pulmonary and systemic vasculature is that hypoxia causes pulmonary vasoconstriction but systemic vasodilation. Furthermore, in patients with systemic arterial hypertension (e.g., essential hypertension), pulmonary arterial pressure is normal, while in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (previously referred to as primary pulmonary hypertension), systemic arterial pressure is usually within the normal range. The divergent vascular responses to hypoxia and the alternative existence of systemic or pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients indicate that the pulmonary vasculature or the pulmonary circulation is unique in terms of its anatomic and histological structure, physiological and pharmacological properties, genetic and epigenetic development as well as cellular and molecular determinants for vasoconstriction, vascular-wall remodeling, and embolus formation. Therefore, the pathogenic mechanisms of pulmonary vascular diseases are rather different from those of systemic circulatory disorders. Development of therapeutic approaches and improvement of clinical management for patients with pulmonary vascular diseases should be directed by understanding the unique physiological and pathological features of the pulmonary vasculature at organ, tissue, cell, and molecular levels.