Pulmonary Hypertension - A Distinct Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (26) ◽  
pp. 2349-2362
Author(s):  
Ankit Kumar Sahu ◽  
Sudeep Kumar

In this review, we have discussed pulmonary hypertension including definition, classification, pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of each class of PH as per latest available data and guidelines. Pulmonary hypertension is defined as an increase in mean pulmonary arterial pressure of ≥ 20 mmHg at rest. The clinical classification of pulmonary hypertension (as per world health organization) includes five different classes constructed on the basis of clinical causes of pulmonary hypertension. The main pathophysiology involved in the development of pulmonary hypertension of all types is prolonged pulmonary vasoconstriction caused by multiple factors which ultimately leads to pulmonary vascular remodelling (structural as well as functional). The primary treatment of pulmonary hypertension comprises of correction/control of underlying cause of pulmonary hypertension. The prevalence of pulmonary hypertension is increasing in developed as well as developing countries and thus its awareness is important for timely diagnosis and management of this chronic condition. The main aim of our review is to provide all the necessary information regarding pulmonary hypertension in one document. KEYWORDS Pulmonary Hypertension, Chronic Thromboembolism, Left Heart Disease, Lung Disease, Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik R. Swenson

Hypoxic vasoconstriction in the lung is a unique and fundamental characteristic of the pulmonary circulation. It functions in health and disease states to better preserve ventilation-perfusion matching by diverting blood flow to better ventilated regions when local ventilation is compromised. As more areas of lung become hypoxic either with high altitude or global lung disease, then hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) becomes less effective in ventilation-perfusion matching and can lead to pulmonary hypertension. HPV is intrinsic to the vascular smooth muscle and its mechanisms remain poorly understood. In addition, the pulmonary vascular endothelium, red cells, lung innervation, and numerous circulating vasoactive agents also affect the strength of HPV. This review will discuss the pathophysiology of HPV and address its role in pulmonary hypertension associated with World Health Organization Group 3 diseases. When sustained beyond many hours, HPV may initiate pulmonary vascular remodeling and lead to more fixed and less oxygen-responsive pulmonary hypertension if the hypoxic stimulus is maintained.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 159-165
Author(s):  
Brian Graham ◽  
Peter Fernandes ◽  
Sue Gu

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) and its subset, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), are rare diseases with a significant unmet need. Between the 1980s and 2010s, the 5-year survival rate for PAH after diagnosis improved from 34% to 65%,12 but remains unacceptably low. Since the introduction of vasodilator therapy, 34 important advances have been made in the understanding of the disease pathophysiology and development of targeted therapies. There are now 14 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapies that target 3 distinct pathways that contribute to PAH, and additional therapeutic targets are currently under investigation in phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials.5 However, there have been major challenges in PH medication development to date, including: 1) only one medication approved for pediatric PAH; 2) focusing on vasodilator therapy rather than targeting the underlying pathogenesis of the disease; 3) no medications approved for PH World Health Organization (WHO) Groups 2, 3, and 5; and 4) several recent high-profile clinical failures after promising preclinical studies.The focus and goal of the PH research community should be directed at identifying new options and solutions for patients. The field must ensure that the approaches used for clinical trials to develop orphan drugs maximize the scarce resources available for recruiting subjects, and are directed toward making safe and effective therapies available in a timely manner. Therefore, there is a critical need to coordinate and harmonize innovative approaches within the field, including strengthening translational research to deliver promising candidates and optimize the designs, endpoints, and biomarkers to conduct safe and efficient clinical trials.


2001 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 2057-2062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle K. Henderson ◽  
Richard L. Clancy ◽  
Norberto C. Gonzalez

The objective of these experiments was to determine whether living and training in moderate hypoxia (MHx) confers an advantage on maximal normoxic exercise capacity compared with living and training in normoxia. Rats were acclimatized to and trained in MHx [inspired Po 2(Pi O2 ) = 110 Torr] for 10 wk (HTH). Rats living in normoxia trained under normoxic conditions (NTN) at the same absolute work rate: 30 m/min on a 10° incline, 1 h/day, 5 days/wk. At the end of training, rats exercised maximally in normoxia. Training increased maximal O2 consumption (V˙o 2 max) in NTN and HTH above normoxic (NS) and hypoxic (HS) sedentary controls. However,V˙o 2 max and O2 transport variables were not significantly different between NTN and HTH:V˙o 2 max 86.6 ± 1.5 vs. 86.8 ± 1.1 ml · min−1 · kg−1; maximal cardiac output 456 ± 7 vs. 443 ± 12 ml · min−1 · kg−1; tissue blood O2 delivery (cardiac output × arterial O2 content) 95 ± 2 vs. 96 ± 2 ml · min−1 · kg−1; and O2 extraction ratio (arteriovenous O2 content difference/arterial O2 content) 0.91 ± 0.01 vs. 0.90 ± 0.01. Mean pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa, mmHg) was significantly higher in HS vs. NS ( P < 0.05) at rest (24.5 ± 0.8 vs. 18.1 ± 0.8) and during maximal exercise (32.0 ± 0.9 vs. 23.8 ± 0.6). Training in MHx significantly attenuated the degree of pulmonary hypertension, with Ppa being significantly lower at rest (19.3 ± 0.8) and during maximal exercise (29.2 ± 0.5) in HTH vs. HS. These data indicate that, despite maintaining equal absolute training intensity levels, acclimatization to and training in MHx does not confer significant advantages over normoxic training. On the other hand, the pulmonary hypertension associated with acclimatization to hypoxia is reduced with hypoxic exercise training.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 204589401987715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Arvanitaki ◽  
Maria Boutsikou ◽  
Anastasia Anthi ◽  
Sotiria Apostolopoulou ◽  
Aikaterini Avgeropoulou ◽  
...  

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a heterogenous clinical entity with poor prognosis, despite recent major pharmacological advances. To increase awareness about the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and management of the disease, large national registries are required. The Hellenic pulmOnary hyPertension rEgistry (HOPE) was launched in early 2015 and enrolls patients from all pulmonary hypertension subgroups in Greece. Baseline epidemiologic, diagnostic, and initial treatment data of consecutive patients with PAH are presented in this article. In total, 231 patients with PAH were enrolled from January 2015 until April 2018. At baseline, about half of patients with PAH were in World Health Organization functional class II. The majority of patients with PAH (56.7%) were at intermediate 1-year mortality risk, while more than one-third were low-risk patients, according to an abbreviated risk stratification score. Half of patients with PAH were on monotherapy, 38.9% received combination therapy, while prostanoids were used only in 12.1% of patients. In conclusion, baseline data of the Greek PAH population share common characteristics, but also have some differences with other registries, the most prominent being a better functional capacity. This may reflect earlier diagnosis of PAH that in conjunction with the increased proportion of patients with atypical PAH could partially explain the preference for monotherapy and the limited use of prostanoids in Greece. Nevertheless, early, advanced specific therapy is strongly recommended.


1975 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. H. Will ◽  
J. L. Hicks ◽  
C. S. Card ◽  
J. T. Reeves ◽  
A. F. Alexander

We investigated acute and chronic hypoxic pulmonary pressor responses in two groups of calves, one bred to be susceptible, the other resistant to high-altitude pulmonary hypertension. Twelve 5-mo-old susceptible calves residing at 1,524 m increased their mean pulmonary arterial pressure from 26 +/- 2 (SE) to 55 +/- 4 mmHg during 2 h at a simulated altitude of 4,572 m. In 10 resistant calves pressure increased from 22 +/- 1 to 37 +/- 2 mmHg. Five calves were selected from each group for further study. When 9 mo old, the 5 susceptible calves again showed a greater pressor response to acute hypoxia (27 +/- 1 to 55 +/- 4 mmHg) than did 5 resistant calves (23 +/- 1 to 41 +/- 3 mmHg). When 12 mo old, the 5 susceptible calves also developed a greater increase in pulmonary arterial pressure (21 +/- 2 to 9 +/- 4 mmHg) during 18 days at 4,572 m than did the 5 resistant calves (21 +/- 1 to 64 +/- 4 mmHg). Acute and chronic hypoxic pulmonary pressor responses were highly correlated (r = 0.91; P less than 0.001) indicating that they were probably produced through a common mechanism.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 204589402093129
Author(s):  
Seda Tanyeri ◽  
Ozgur Y. Akbal ◽  
Berhan Keskin ◽  
Aykun Hakgor ◽  
Ali Karagoz ◽  
...  

We evaluated whether updated pulmonary hypertension definitive criteria proposed in sixth World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension had an impact on diagnosis of overall pulmonary hypertension and pre-capillary and combined pre- and post-capillary phenotypes as compared to those in European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society 2015 pulmonary hypertension Guidelines. Study group comprised the retrospectively evaluated 1300 patients (age 53.1 ± 18.8 years, female 807, 62.1%) who underwent right heart catheterization with different indications between 2006 and 2018. Mean pulmonary arterial pressure ≥25 mmHg (European Society of Cardiology) and PAMP (mean pulmonary arterial pressure) >20 mmHg (World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension) right heart catheterization definitions criteria were used, respectively. For pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary artery wedge pressure ≤15 mmHg and pulmonary vascular resistance ≥3 Wood units criteria were included in the both definitions. Normal mean pulmonary arterial pressure (<21 mmHg), borderline mean pulmonary arterial pressure elevation (21–24 mmHg), and overt pulmonary hypertension (≥25 mmHg) were documented in 21.1, 9.8, and 69.1% of the patients, respectively. The pre-capillary and combined pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension were noted in 2.9 and 1.1%, 8.7 and 2.5%, and 34.6 and 36.6% of the patients with normal mean pulmonary arterial pressure, borderline, and overt pulmonary hypertension subgroups, respectively. The World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension versus European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society definitions resulted in a net 9.8% increase in the diagnosis of overall pulmonary hypertension whereas increases in the pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension and combined pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension diagnosis were only 0.8 and 0.3%, respectively. The re-definition of mean pulmonary arterial pressure threshold seems to increase the frequency of the overall pulmonary hypertension diagnosis. However, this increase was mainly originated from those in post-capillary pulmonary hypertension subgroup whereas its impact on pre-capillary and combined pre- and post-capillary pulmonary hypertension was negligible. Moreover, criteria of pre-capillary pulmonary vascular disease and combined pre- and post-capillary phenotypes were still detectable even in the presence of normal mean pulmonary arterial pressure. The obligatory criteria of pulmonary vascular resistance ≥3 Wood units seems to keep specificity for discrimination between pre-capillary versus post-C pulmonary hypertension after lowering the definitive mean pulmonary arterial pressure threshold to 20 mmHg.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-95
Author(s):  
Dimmy Prasetya ◽  
Pandji Irani Fianza ◽  
Erwan Martanto ◽  
Teddy Arnold Sihite

Objective: To analyze the correlation between tissue factor microparticles (TF-MP) levels and pulmonary hypertension (PH) in adult thalassemic patients. Methods: This study was conducted from September to October 2018, using secondary and primary data. The secondary data consisted of the PH parameter, which was retrieved from a 2017 previous study entitled ‘Clinical Characteristic and Complication due to Iron Overload in Thalassaemic Patients‘in 2017 while the primary data were the TF-MP, which were obtained from the analysis of frozen serum of the same population using ELISA method. The mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) values were obtained from echocardiography results and PH was defined as mPAP >25 mmHg. Results: Seven (16.7%) major thalassemic patients experienced PH. The median values of TF-MP levels were higher among major thalassemic patients with PH when compared to the non-PH patients (1569 vs 11.5 pg/dL; p=0.023). No significant difference was observed in the median TF-MP levels between subjects with splenectomy and subjects without splenectomy (11.6 vs 12.3 pg/dL; p=0.44). There was also no difference in mPAP values between subjects with splenectomy and subjects without splenectomy (18.0 vs 17.0 mmHg; p=0.663). When the median TF-MP levels among major thalassemic patients were analyzed in terms of correlation with transfusion level, no statistically significant difference was seen between subjects who received sufficient transfusions (≥180 mL/kgbb/year) and those who received insufficient transfusions (<180 mL/kgbb/year) (r= 0.138; p=0.390). Conclusions: There is a positive correlation between the TF-MP levels and PH in adult major thalassemic subjects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 205031212110539
Author(s):  
Barbro Kjellström ◽  
Bodil Ivarsson ◽  
Lise-Lotte Landenfelt Gestré ◽  
Henrik Ryftenius ◽  
Magnus Nisell

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension are chronic diseases with a severe symptom burden. Common symptoms are dyspnoea at light activity and general fatigue that limits daily activities. Respiratory modulation by device-guided breathing decreased symptoms in patients with heart failure. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate if respiratory modulation could improve symptoms of dyspnoea in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Method: Adult patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension with symptoms of dyspnoea at rest or light activity performed home-based respiratory modulation by device-guided breathing 20 min a day for 3 months. Patients were on stable disease-specific treatment ⩾3 months and willing to undergo all study procedures. Dyspnoea score, World Health Organization class, physical status, N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide, quality of life, respiratory rate and 6-min walk distance were assessed before and after 3 months with respiratory modulation. Results: Nine patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension and five with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension completed the study protocol. Mean age was 71 ± 14 years, and 11 were women. After 3 months of respiratory modulation, dyspnoea score (−0.6, p = 0.014), respiratory rate at rest (−3 breaths/min, p = 0.013), World Health Organization class (−0.3, p = 0.040), quality of life (EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale +5 points, not significant) and decreased N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (−163 ng/L, p = 0.043) had improved. The fatigue and respiratory rate after the 6-min walk decreased while the 6-min walk distance remained unchanged. Conclusion: Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension that used device-guided breathing for 3 months improved symptoms of dyspnoea and lowered the respiratory rate at rest and after exercise.


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