Postembolic pulmonary hypertension

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Postembolic pulmonary hypertension.” (Rev Mal Respir. 2007 Apr;24(4):497-508). Authors are Jais X, Dartevelle P, Parent F, et al., from the Centre de Reference de l’Hypertension Arterielle Pulmonaire, Service de Pneumologie et Reanimation Respiratoire, Unite Propre de Recherche de l’Enseignement Superieur EA2705, Hopital Antoine-Beclere, Universite Paris-Sud, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, Clamart, France. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a rare disease characterized by the persistence of thromboemboli obstructing the pulmonary arteries as an organized tissue. The consequence is an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance resulting in pulmonary hypertension (PH) and progressive right heart failure. It is difficult to recognize the postembolic nature of PH because there is no known history of thromboembolic disease in more than 50% of cases. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.