International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine & Public Health

Pulmonary edema is a broad descriptive term and is usually defined as an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the extravascular compartments of the lungs. The pathophysiologies involved are increased hydrostatic pressure gradient across the capillary wall, diminished osmotic pressure gradient, and increased capillary permeability. Noncardiogenic pulmonary edema is caused by changes in capillary permeability as a result of a direct or an indirect pathologic insult, while cardiogenic pulmonary edema occurs due to increased capillary hydrostatic pressure secondary to elevated pulmonary venous pressure. Major causes of noncardiogenic pulmonary edema are drowning, fluid overload, aspiration, inhalation injury, neurogenic pulmonary edema, acute kidney disease, allergic reaction, and adult respiratory distress syndrome. Cardiogenic edema is caused by factors leading to elevated left atrial pressures, such as atrial outflow obstruction (mitral stenosis, atrial myxoma), left ventricular systolic dysfunction. congestive heart failure), left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, left ventricular volume overload, left ventricular outflow obstruction, dysrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, and myocardial infarction. Clinically, in most instances the history, signs, and symptoms will be sufficient to identify the cause of edema, but in many other instances, especially in a critical care setting, the cause of edema may be difficult to determine. Cardiogenic pulmonary edema shows mediastinal widening in the form of increased vascular pedicle width (>53 mm), pleural effusion, cardiomegaly, peribronchial cuffing, upper lobe pulmonary venous diversion in the form of prominence of bronchovascular markings, Kerley B lines, opacities involving both the central as well as the peripheral lungs, and reduced lung volume. This information can be published in our peer reviewed journal with impact factors and are calculated using citations not only from research articles but also review articles (which tend to receive more citations), editorials, letters, meeting abstracts, short communications, and case reports. The inclusion of these publications provides the opportunity for editors and publishers to manipulate the ratio used to calculate the impact factor and try to increase their number rapidly. Impact factor plays a major role for the particular journal. Journal with higher impact factor is considered to be more important than other ones.