[Early detection and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension].

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare clinical condition characterized by a progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance leading to right heart failure. The detection of this disease is limited by the accessibility of pulmonary vessels and rough initial symptoms, sometimes consisting only exertional dyspnea. In most cases, the patient presents a severe damage with a limited life expectancy at the time of diagnosis. This diagnosis, however, can be facilitated by the recognition of risk factors for the disease. The challenge of this early detection is to allow the establishment of a specific treatment which aims to improve the prognosis of patients by limiting the progression of the vasculopathy.