Effects of protriptyline on diurnal and nocturnal oxygenation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Article Abstract:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease process that causes decreased ability of the lungs to perform their function of ventilation, thereby reducing the provision of oxygen to the blood. COPD is associated with difficult breathing, chronic cough, and decreased breathing capacity. Various respiratory disorders, including inflammation of the airways and asthma, may lead to the development of COPD. The effects of the antidepressant agent protriptyline on lung function; the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the arterial blood; and sleep and sleep-related breathing abnormalities were assessed in 16 patients with COPD. Protriptyline did not alter lung function measurements, but improved arterial blood gases, increasing blood oxygen levels and decreasing blood carbon dioxide levels after 10 weeks of treatment. Although the total sleep times were unchanged, protriptyline treatment decreased rapid eye movement sleep. The saturation of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying pigment of the blood, is a measure of the oxygen content of the blood; this was increased after protriptyline treatment. These results show that the antidepressant protriptyline improves the decreased levels of oxygen in the blood in patients with COPD. However, these changes do not result from effects of protriptyline on lung function. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Hypoxia, Anoxia, Protriptyline

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Exhaled nitric oxide and impaired oxygenation in cirrhotic patients before and after liver transplantation

Article Abstract:

Excessive nitric oxide in the blood of patients with liver cirrhosis appears to dilate blood vessels in the lungs, impairing proper gas exchange and oxygenation. Pulmonary function and blood gas analyses were performed on 18 cirrhosis patients before and after liver transplantation surgery, and compared with healthy volunteers. Cirrhotic patients had nearly twice the level of exhaled nitric oxide as healthy patients, which resolved following surgery. Alveolar-arterial oxygen gradient, a measure of oxygenation, decreased significantly after liver transplantation.

Liver, Liver transplantation, Nitric oxide, Liver cirrhosis, Pulmonary circulation

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Inhaled steroids for chronic obstructive lung disease

Article Abstract:

Inhaled corticosteroid drugs may improve symptoms in some patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but it will not necessarily improve their prognosis or survival. This was the conclusion of researchers who analyzed six studies covering 3,571 patients. In four of the studies, many of the patients withdrew from the study prematurely.

Evaluation, Corticosteroids, Adrenocortical hormones, Corticosteroid drugs

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