[Pulmonary hypertension: the issues of diagnosis and treatment]

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertension is not a rare pathology that is met in a doctor's practice. It has been defined as a mean pulmonary artery pressure >25 mmHg at rest or >30 mmHg at exercise, or by a systolic pulmonary artery pressure >40 mmHg measured by echo-Doppler. The article analyzes pulmonary arterial hypertension, especially primary one, and its classification, diagnosis, and possibilities for medication. The major role in pathogenesis is ascribed for in situ thrombosis, intimal and adventitial proliferation and smooth muscle hypertrophy. Prostacyclin analogues, nitric oxide, calcium channel blockers and endothelin-1 receptor blockers are the most important medicines, which decrease pressure in the pulmonary artery. The clinical case of the 63-year-old woman, who was ill with severe primary pulmonary arterial hypertension, is described in the article.