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Pulmonary Hypertension

We are currently researching into the prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) within an Australian population. Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) is high blood pressure to the lungs, but is a different entity from systemic hypertension (“high blood pressure”) which is well known, studied, and treated. There are a number of causes of PHT, ranging from common causes such as left heart or lung disease, to rarer causes. Our understanding of it’s prevalence in the community (how common it is) is limited, particularly in an Australian population. Echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart, echo) is ideally suited to measure pulmonary artery blood pressure in a safe and non invasive way,. Using data from our laboratory located in Armadale, Western Australia, we have previously described that pulmonary hypertension without any identifiable cause (idiopathic PAH) may be more common than previously recognised. Our data was obtained using a retrospective database review, limited to the information provided on the referral, which did not allow for a more in-depth assessment of cause. It is likely the condition is even more common than we estimated. Using the relatively static population described above, we plan to investigate for the underlying cause in all patients with pulmonary hypertension. We will obtain further information from the patient’s general practitioner (GP), along with further investigations as required, such as lung function, CT, and right heart catheter studies. It should be noted that these test form part of the usual clinical practice for investigating the cause of PHT and are not themselves being studied. Using the data, we plan to accurately determine the population prevalence of various causes of PHT. Importance of this research: Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH, which is a part of the broad group of PHT) untreated remains almost universally fatal. However in recent years there have been major advances in both diagnosis and treatment. Medically treated patients enjoy considerable improvement to both length and quality of life. While advances in diagnosis and treatment have been considerable, identification remains challenging due to the non specific symptoms. Having accurate data on how much disease is actually present in the Australian community will allow physicians to give this diseases its due consideration in patients who present with the classic symptom of “breathlessness”