Sublingual microcirculation in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Rationale: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a pulmonary vasculopathy that leads to failure of the right ventricle and premature death.

Objectives: To determine whether the sublingual microcirculation is affected in patients with PAH compared with healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects.

Methods: Using the CapiScope Handheld Video Capillaroscope we measured the sublingual microvasculature density, flow index, tortuosity, and curvature.

Breath analysis in pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive and devastating condition characterized by vascular cell proliferation and is associated with several metabolic derangements. We hypothesized that metabolic derangements in PAH can be detected by measuring metabolic by-products in exhaled breath.

Methods: We collected breath and blood samples from patients with PAH at the time of right-sided heart catheterization (n=31) and from healthy control subjects (n=34).

The breathprints in patients with liver disease identify novel breath biomarkers in alcoholic hepatitis.

Background & Aims: Selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometry can precisely identify trace gases in the human breath, in the parts-per-billion range. We investigated whether concentrations of volatile compounds in breath samples correlate with the diagnosis of alcoholic hepatitis (AH) and the severity of liver disease in patients with AH.

Methods: We recruited patients with liver disease from a single tertiary care center.