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Pulmonary Hypertension
How dangerous is pulmonary hypertension?
Pulmonary hypertension is itself a very complex disease, with many causative factors in clinical practice. In the early stages, patients may only exhibit symptoms such as shortness of breath after activity, difficulty breathing, and overall fatigue. However, as the condition gradually worsens, patients may experience chest tightness, rapid breathing, and even chest pain, fainting, or dizziness. If the patient also has right heart dysfunction, they may experience symptoms like swelling of the lower limbs, as well as diarrhea and abdominal distension. Therefore, if pulmonary hypertension patients are definitively diagnosed and do not receive timely appropriate treatment, the accompanying clinical symptoms may rapidly worsen. The patient's life may be at risk due to severe symptoms such as hypoxia or fainting.
Symptoms of pulmonary hypertension include:
The clinical symptoms of pulmonary hypertension primarily include: 1. Shortness of breath, which is the most common symptom of pulmonary hypertension. Many patients experience shortness of breath as their initial symptom, which is often related to physical activity. As the condition progresses, the shortness of breath tends to worsen. 2. Some patients may also experience chest pain, dizziness, or fainting. 3. Some patients may cough up blood, usually only a small amount, but occasionally there can be a significant amount. 4. Patients with pulmonary hypertension caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may experience repeated symptoms of coughing and coughing up phlegm. 5. Patients with pulmonary hypertension often experience fatigue and weakness.
Pulmonary hypertension vomiting, what's the matter?
In the early stages, arterial hypertension may present no symptoms. However, when it reaches a certain severity, it can lead to difficulties in breathing, tightness in the chest, and may cause edema in the gastrointestinal tract, facial swelling, and fluid accumulation in the abdominal and thoracic cavities. When gastrointestinal edema becomes severe, patients may experience nausea, vomiting, and a significant loss of appetite. Thus, these are symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Some cases of vomiting occur because patients consume high-fat foods that are not absorbed in a timely manner, leading to gastrointestinal bloating which causes nausea and vomiting. Additionally, some cases involve patients who use diuretics to reduce swelling; they often experience vomiting due to electrolyte imbalances, such as low sodium and low potassium levels.
How to diagnose pulmonary arterial hypertension?
To accurately diagnose pulmonary hypertension, the following aspects should be considered: symptoms, signs, laboratory, and other tests. Early-stage pulmonary hypertension usually doesn't exhibit clear symptoms, but discomfort occurs during intense activities. Common symptoms include difficulty breathing, chest pain, dizziness or fainting, and coughing up blood. Additionally, patients should undergo laboratory tests such as blood tests including liver function tests and HIV antibody testing, serological tests; an electrocardiogram to check for right ventricular enlargement or hypertrophy; chest X-ray; echocardiography and Doppler ultrasound; pulmonary function tests; blood gas analysis; radioactive isotope lung ventilation/perfusion scan; right heart catheterization; and lung biopsy.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension standards
Pulmonary hypertension is a common clinical condition with very complex causes, which can be induced by a variety of heart, lung, and pulmonary vascular diseases. When pulmonary hypertension occurs, because the resistance in the pulmonary circulation increases, the burden on the right heart increases, eventually leading to right heart failure, thus causing a series of clinical manifestations. During the disease course, pulmonary hypertension commonly shows progressive development. Currently, the diagnostic criteria for pulmonary hypertension are an average pulmonary artery pressure greater than 25 mmHg measured by right heart catheterization at sea level in a resting state, or greater than 30 mmHg during exercise. Additionally, diagnosing arteriogenic pulmonary hypertension requires, beyond the aforementioned criteria, that the pulmonary capillary wedge pressure or left ventricular end-diastolic pressure be less than 15 mmHg. The severity of pulmonary hypertension can be classified into mild, moderate, and severe stages based on resting mean pulmonary artery pressure levels. Mild is defined as 26 to 35 mmHg, moderate as 36 to 45 mmHg, and severe as greater than 45 mmHg. Echocardiography is the most important non-invasive examination method for assessing pulmonary hypertension, and it is recommended that a pulmonary artery systolic pressure greater than 40 mmHg be considered indicative of pulmonary hypertension according to echocardiographic standards.
Symptoms of pulmonary hypertension
The symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension are varied. In the early stages when pulmonary cardiac function is compensatory, the symptoms mainly include cough, phlegm, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, and fatigue. Later, when pulmonary cardiac function becomes decompensated, symptoms of respiratory failure and right heart failure may occur. In cases of right heart failure, symptoms mainly manifest as systemic circulatory congestion, including visceral nausea, vomiting, palpitations, and pronounced shortness of breath. In respiratory failure, particularly pulmonary hypertension caused by pulmonary heart disease, symptoms like drowsiness, confusion, and gaze fixation, which are typical of pulmonary encephalopathy, may occur. Therefore, the symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension are diverse.
Which department should pulmonary hypertension be registered under?
Pulmonary hypertension is becoming increasingly common in our daily lives. Pulmonary hypertension refers to a condition where the pressure in the pulmonary artery exceeds 30 mmHg. If you have pulmonary hypertension and need to see a doctor, you might wonder which department to visit in such a large hospital with many departments. As the name implies, pulmonary hypertension is primarily characterized by an increase in pressure in the pulmonary artery. Therefore, you can make an appointment with the Department of Cardiology. Additionally, the Department of Respiratory Medicine or the Department of Vascular Surgery are also suitable options for seeking treatment.
Pulmonary hypertension is seen in what disease?
Pulmonary arterial hypertension can be seen in various diseases. The first major category is arterial pulmonary hypertension. Patients may have idiopathic arterial pulmonary hypertension, familial pulmonary hypertension, and arterial pulmonary hypertension caused by related diseases. Such as collagen vascular disease, portal hypertension, HIV infection, drug or toxin-induced thyroid dysfunction, myeloproliferative disorders, splenectomy, and hemoglobinopathies can also lead to arterial pulmonary hypertension. Venous pulmonary hypertension is mostly associated with left heart system diseases, such as left atrial and left ventricular heart diseases, left heart valvular diseases. Conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung disease, and sleep apnea related to hypotension also lead to pulmonary hypertension. Another category is chronic thrombotic or thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. For instance, proximal or distal pulmonary artery thromboembolism, parts such as tumors, parasites, and foreign objects can also cause pulmonary embolism, thereby causing thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
Late-stage symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension
The prognosis of pulmonary hypertension depends on the function of the right heart. The main symptoms in the final stage of pulmonary hypertension are those of right heart failure. At this time, the patient mainly shows symptoms such as swelling of the lower limbs, oliguria, and abdominal distension. The difficulty in breathing may be slightly less severe than in the early stages. These symptoms are mainly caused by venous congestion in the systemic circulation, which prevents blood from returning from the lower limbs, leading to edema or ascites in the lower parts of the body.
Mild pulmonary hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension is a relatively common disease in daily life. Many patients, when they go to the hospital for examination, often see reports from cardiac ultrasound indicating mild pulmonary hypertension, moderate pulmonary hypertension, or non-severe pulmonary hypertension. So, what are the criteria for mild pulmonary hypertension? Generally, pulmonary artery pressure is measured using right heart catheterization or cardiac ultrasound. If the pressure is between 30 to 50 mmHg, this is often considered mild pulmonary hypertension. Generally, the prognosis for mild pulmonary hypertension is quite good, typically not producing noticeable symptoms or affecting health.