Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. May 6, 2023; 11(13): 3029-3037
Published online May 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i13.3029
Importance of proper ventilator support and pulmonary rehabilitation in obese patients with heart failure: Two case reports
Eun-Hee Lim, Sung-Hee Park, Yu Hui Won
Eun-Hee Lim, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Jeonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju 54907, South Korea
Sung-Hee Park, Yu Hui Won, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Jeonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju 54907, South Korea
Sung-Hee Park, Yu Hui Won, Research Institute of Clinical Medicine of Jeonbuk National University, Biomedical Research Institute of Jeonbuk National University Hospital, Jeonju 54907, South Korea
Author contributions: Lim EH drafted the manuscript; Won YH and Park SH performed the data analysis; all authors contributed to the final diagnoses; Won YH and Park SH interpreted the data, wrote and revised the manuscript; all authors reviewed the manuscript before submission.
Supported by The “Research Base Construction Fund Support Program” funded by Jeonbuk National University in 2021.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from both patients for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yu Hui Won, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Jeonbuk National University Medical School, 20 Geonjiro, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 54907, South Korea. wonyh@jbnu.ac.kr
Received: November 15, 2022
Peer-review started: November 15, 2022
First decision: February 17, 2023
Revised: February 26, 2023
Accepted: April 4, 2023
Article in press: April 4, 2023
Published online: May 6, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: We describe two patients with heart failure (HF) and obesity who experienced respiratory failure, including hypercapnia and hypoxia. Neither patient demonstrated a significant response to pharmacological management; however, in both cases, symptoms improved with noninvasive ventilation, and they were able to return to their daily life. These findings suggest that in patients with obesity and HF who developed pulmonary hypertension and cor pulmonale may need to be treated for obesity hypoventilation and sleep apnea. The symptoms of these comorbidities may improve when arterial blood gas levels are normalized with appropriate ventilator support and pulmonary rehabilitation.