Jansa P, Sládková H, Susa Z, Aschermann M
II. interní klinika 1. lékarské fakulty UK a VFN, Praha.
Vnitr Lek. 2004 Sep;50(9):689-94.
Pulmonary hypertension is a condition characterized by elevation of the mean blood pressure in pulmonary artery above 25 mm Hg at rest or above 30 mm Hg during exercise. Pulmonary hypertension signs are not specific. They are frequently camouflaged by signs of a primary disease causing pulmonary hypertension. That causes difficulties with diagnosing and often doesn't lead to recognition of pulmonary hypertension till pressure in pulmonary artery is difficult to manage therapeutically. Treatment of secondary pulmonary hypertension tries to affect primary disease. In patients with pulmonary artery hypertension with preserved vasoreactivity so called conventional treatment is still recommended (vasodilatation treatment with calcium channels blockers, anticoagulation, oxygentherapy, treatment of heart failure). New ways of pharmacotherapy represent administration of prostacyclin, antagonists of endothelin receptors, and phosphodiesterase inhibitors. Nonpharmacology treatment of pulmonary hypertension includes balloon atrial septostomy, lung transplantation, and in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension pulmonary endarterectomy. Current recommendations for pulmonary hypertension treatment concentrate especially on patients in functional classes NYHA III and IV. In less symptomatic patients there is usually lack of unambiguous clinical data needed for treatment. Owning to seriousness of the disease, its difficult diagnosing and frequently difficult treatment the global trend is to concentrate care of patients with pulmonary hypertension in specialised centers. This problem systematically addresses a center at the 2nd Clinic of Internal Medicine of the 1st Medical Faculty of the Charles University and the General Teaching Hospital in Prague in close cooperation with the Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery at the General Teaching Hospital in Prague, and the transplantation center at the 3rd Surgical Clinic of the Teaching Hospital Motol in Prague, the Czech Republic.
