Protocol Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

We want to judge the improvement of the endothelial function remotely to the acute exacerbation (6 weeks). And then we would like to correlate this improvement with the variations of oxidative stress, muscle strength, respiratory function and systemic inflammation.

We also would like to find a relation between the new hospitalizations for respiratory exacerbation and the initial value of endothelial function.

Then we would like to evaluate the relationship between the cardiovascular risk and the COPD severity.

Inclusion criteria

• COPD patients with the waning of exacerbation:
• Male or Female more than 18 years old
• VEF1/FCV < 70% or COPD already knew
• At the moment of the respiratory failure, the day of the enter in hospital:
• Respiratory frequency >25
• PaCO2 > 45 mmHg
• pH < 7.35
• The day of the inclusion in our study:
• PH > 7.33 at the end of the respiratory failure, or 2 days of continuation, 3 to 7 days post acute exacerbation of continuation
• Fever < 38.5
• Patients who have signed the inform consent form
• Stable COPD patients:
• Men or women more than 18 years old
• VEF1/FCV < 70% or COPD already knew
• Patients who have signed the inform consent form

Exclusion criteria

• Evolutive obvious infection or CRP > 100 at inclusion Cardiac failure considered like the major cause of the exacerbation or cardiac insufficiency with FEVG < 45 %
• Smoker > 10 cigarettes a day Antioxidant catch: N-acetyl-cystein, selenium, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol acetate…
• Evolutive neoplasia
• Antioxidant catch: N-acetyl-cystein, selenium, ascorbic acid, alpha tocopherol acetate…
• pregnant women
• patient under supervision or trusteeship
• patient taking part in another clinical trial
• claustrophobia, patients allergic to contrast agents like Gadolinium, presence of material dissuading the realization of a MRI (pacemaker, implantable defibrillator, insulin pump, ferrometallic clips or foreign bodies in brain or eyes)