This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Study findings elucidate common form of pulmonary hypertension

Thenappan T. Circ Heart Fail. 2011;doi:10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.110.958801.

Issue: May 2011

Add topic to email alerts

Receive an email when new articles are posted on

Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on .

Subscribe

Added to email alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

Back to Healio

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

Back to Healio

Researchers of a new study in Circulation: Heart Failure have reported differences in characteristics between pulmonary hypertension associated with left-sided HF and preserved ejection fraction and pulmonary arterial hypertension, including less severe pulmonary hypertension and a higher prevalence of CV comorbidities.

In the study, investigators enrolled three groups of patients — those with pulmonary hypertension associated with left-sided HF and preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF; n=100), those with pulmonary arterial hypertension (n=522) and those with HFpEF but without pulmonary vascular disease (n=45). They then compared clinical, echocardiographic and hemodynamic characteristics of the three groups to distinguish clinically relevant differences in patients with PH-HFpEF.

Compared with patients with PAH, those with PH-HFpEF were found to have less severe pulmonary hypertension (P<.001). Specifically, those with PH-HFpEF vs. PAH were older and had an increased likelihood of CV comorbidities, worse exercise capacity and renal function, and left atrial enlargement, and they also had a lesser likelihood of right atrial enlargement.

When compared with patients with HFpEF but without pulmonary vascular disease, however, individuals with PH-HFpEF were more often female and symptomatic, had higher right atrial pressure, and had a higher likelihood of right atrial enlargement and right ventricular hypertrophy.

For future research, the researchers wrote: “Studies to determine why some patients with HFpEF develop pulmonary vascular disease while others do not are needed to better understand the pathophysiology of PH-HFpEF. Because of the increasing frequency in which these patients are becoming diagnosed, a better understanding of their outcome and response to treatments is urgently needed.”

Follow CardiologyToday.com on Twitter.