Information about Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

I decided to research about this topic because it's all about hypertension. Beside, I know a lot of people who have hypertension especially my relatives and my mother. This topic is always interesting to me so I decided to choose this as my new post to inform my readers about this very important matter.

Primary pulmonary hypertension (PPH) is a rare disease characterized by elevated pulmonary artery pressure with no apparent cause. PPH is also termed precapillary pulmonary hypertension or, more recently, idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH). The diagnosis is usually made after excluding other known causes of pulmonary hypertension. Dresdale and colleagues first reported a hemodynamic account of IPAH in 1951(http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/301450-overview).

In medicine, pulmonary hypertension (PH) is an increase in blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, pulmonary vein, or pulmonary capillaries, together known as the lung vasculature, leading to shortness of breath, dizziness, fainting, and other symptoms, all of which are exacerbated by exertion. Pulmonary hypertension can be a severe disease with a markedly decreased exercise tolerance and heart failure. It was first identified by Dr. Ernst von Romberg in 1891.[1] According to the most recent classification, it can be one of five different types: arterial, venous, hypoxic, thromboembolic or miscellaneous


Signs and symptoms

Because symptoms may develop very gradually, patients may delay seeing a physician for years. Common symptoms are shortness of breath, fatigue, non-productive cough, angina pectoris, fainting or syncope, peripheral edema (swelling of the limbs which commonly manifests around the ankles and feet), and rarely hemoptysis (coughing up blood). Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) typically does not present with orthopnea or paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, while pulmonary venous hypertension typically does.

In order to establish the cause, the physician will conduct a thorough medical history followed by a physical examination. A detailed family history is established to determine whether the disease might be hereditary|familial. A history of exposure to drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, alcohol leading to cirrhosis, and smoking leading to emphysema are considered significant. A physical examination is performed to look for typical signs of pulmonary hypertension, including a loud P2 (pulmonic valve closure sound), (para)sternal heave, jugular venous distension, pedal edema, ascites, hepatojugular reflux, clubbing etc. Evidence of tricuspid insufficiency is also sought and, if present, is consistent with the presence of pulmonary hypertension (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_hypertension).