Brief Glimpse on Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary Hypertension:

Pulmonary hypertension is a condition of increased blood pressure within arteries of lungs.

Symptoms:

- Shortness of breath

- Syncope

- Fatigue

- Chest pain

- Swelling of legs

- Palpitations

- Abdominal Pain (right side)

- Poor appetite

- Light-headedness

- Cyanosis

Risk Factors:

The cause is often undefined. The common risk factors include:

- Family history

- Earlier blood clots in the lungs

- HIV/AIDS

- Sickle cell disease

- Cocaine use

- COPD

- Sleep apnea

- Living at high altitudes

- Problems with the mitral valve

Diagnosis:

The diagnosis includes five major types also a series of tests have to be performed to characterise pulmonary arterial hypertension from other unclear composite categories. Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension is diagnosed after exclusion of other feasible causes of pulmonary hypertension

Diagnosis protocol include;

- Physical examination

- Echocardiography (Doppler echocardiography)

- Ventilation/ perfusion scintigraphy

- CT scan

- Right heart catheterization

Supportive Measures:

There is no particular cure for pulmonary hypertension. The supportive measures may be used to control the symptoms. Few of them are;

- Oxygen therapy

- Diuretics

- Anticoagulant therapy

- Lung transplant may be an option in desired cases

Treatment:

Treatment of pulmonary hypertension is decided by whether the pulmonary hypertension is arterial, venous, hypoxic, thromboembolic, or miscellaneous. If it's caused by left heart disease, the treatment is to optimize left ventricular activity by the utilization of medication or to repair the left aortic valve. Hypoxemic respiratory disease patients shouldn't habitually be treated with vasoactive agents like prostanoids, phosphodiesterase inhibitors, or endothelin antagonists, as these are approved for various conditions referred to as primary pulmonic blood vessel high blood pressure.

Drug classification regularly used for treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

- Calcium channel blockers

- Vasoactive substances

- Prostaglandins

- Endothelin receptor antagonists

- Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors

- Activators of soluble guanylate cyclase