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Harold I. Palevsky, MD; Alfred P. Fishman, MD
University of Pennsylvania Hospital Philadelphia

JAMA. 1990;264(11):1409.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.—

The three conditions suggested by Dr Shander are rather peripheral to the focus of our article on chronic cor pulmonale. The first two require an unconventional definition of cor pulmonale. We began our review by defining cor pulmonale in conventional terms, ie, as "a descriptive term used to denote enlargement of the right ventricle, by either hypertrophy, dilatation, or both, as a consequence of disorders and diseases of the respiratory system."¹ According to this definition, chronic left ventricular failure and mitral valve stenosis, both of which may result in pulmonary hypertension and right-sided heart failure, were inappropriate for our discussion and, therefore, were omitted.

The third condition, chronic mountain sickness, is an uncommon disorder peculiar to life at a high altitude in which cor pulmonale and right ventricular failure may feature prominently because of chronic alveolar hypoventilation and alveolar hypoxia.² Although our article did not single . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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