Right-sided heart failure due to chronic lung disease causing pulmonary hypertension is known as what?

• A. Left Ventricular Failure
• B. Pulmonary Embolism
• C. Cor Pulmonale
• D. Myocardial Infarction

Answer: (C)

Cor pulmonale is the term for right-sided heart failure that results from chronic lung disease causing pulmonary hypertension. In long-standing lung disease, low oxygen levels lead to ongoing hypoxic vasoconstriction in the pulmonary circulation, which raises pulmonary vascular resistance and pressures. The right ventricle must pump against this higher afterload, so it undergoes hypertrophy and, over time, dilates and fails. This makes the right side of the heart struggle to move blood through the lungs, producing signs of right‑sided congestion such as ankle swelling, abdominal swelling, liver enlargement, and a raised jugular venous pressure.

This picture is different from left-sided heart failure, where the left ventricle struggles to pump blood forward and often causes pulmonary congestion and edema. A pulmonary embolism is an acute blockage of the pulmonary arteries causing sudden symptoms, not a chronic lung‑driven process. A myocardial infarction is heart muscle death from ischemia and is not the specific mechanism behind cor pulmonale. So the condition described is cor pulmonale.