Hypoxic Pulmonary Vascular Lesions in Man at High Altitude and in Patients with Chronic Respiratory Disease

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Abstract
Lung tissue of individuals having lived at altitudes from 1,600 to over 4,000 meters, was studied and compared to that of individuals from sea level and of patients with chronic bronchitis and emphysema.The mean thickness of the media of pulmonary arteries in sea level individuals is rarely over 7 percent of the diameter. At higher altitudes there is an increasing number of cases with medial hypertrophy, although even at altitudes over 3,000 meters, most individuals had an average media within normal limits. This suggests an individual hyperreactivity to hypoxia. In six of ten patients with chronic bronchitis there was medial hypertrophy. Intimal changes in cases of chronic hypoxia were generally confined to the development of longitudinal muscle fibres in small arteries.

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