Congenital heart disease associated pulmonary arterial hypertension

Clin Chest Med. 2007 Mar;28(1):243-53, x. doi: 10.1016/j.ccm.2006.12.004.

Abstract

Pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with congenital heart disease, although common (15%-30%) in all-comers with congenital heart disease, is variable in terms of clinical manifestations, severity of associated pulmonary arterial hypertension, and response to therapy and outcomes (depending on lesion anatomy, pulmonary circulation flows and pressures, and presence and timings of surgeries). Evaluation includes imaging and catheterization. Surgical or another anatomic correction may be desirable after rigorous preinterventional assessment. Patients who are not surgical candidates or who fail to improve early or late after surgery may have the potential to respond to idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension therapies. Lung or heart/lung transplantation remains an option for selected recalcitrant patients.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cardiac Surgical Procedures / adverse effects
  • Eisenmenger Complex / drug therapy
  • Eisenmenger Complex / physiopathology
  • Female
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / complications*
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / surgery
  • Humans
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / diagnosis
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / etiology*
  • Hypertension, Pulmonary / physiopathology
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Cardiovascular / physiopathology
  • Risk Factors
  • Signal Transduction / physiology