2/24/2009

For People With Pulmonary Hypertension

There are many causes of pulmonary hypertension. Tools of identify it including heart catheterization, echocardiography and CT.

There are two different kinds of pulmonary hypertension.Treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension include medications and, in rare instances, lung transplant.Other forms of pulmonary hypertension are caused by emphysema, blood clots to the lung or congenital heart disease.
Pulmonary hypertension is a serious illness that becomes progressively worse and eventually may prove fatal.
Pulmonary hypertension begins when the lungs' tiny arteries narrow or become blocked.It causes increased resistance to blood flow in your lungs, which in turn raises pressure within the pulmonary arteries. Your heart's right ventricle must work harder to pump blood through the lungs, finally causing the heart muscle to weaken and sometimes fail completely.
The following are some causes of pulmonary hypertension:
The diet drug "fen-phen."
Liver diseases, rheumatic disorders, lung conditions.
Certain heart diseases.
Thromboembolic disease.
Low-oxygen conditions.
Genetic predisposition.

Pulmonary hypertension treatment:

Medications

Oxygen — replaces the low oxygen in your blood.
Anticoagulants or "blood thinners" such as warfarin sodium (Coumadin) — decreases blood clot formation so blood flows more freely through blood vessels.
Diuretics or "water pills" — removes extra fluid from the tissues and bloodstream, which reduces swelling and makes breathing easier.
Potassium— replaces potassiumthat may be lost with increased urination when taking diuretics.
Inotropic agents — improves the heart’s pumping ability.
Vasodilators— lowers pulmonary blood pressure and may improve the pumping ability of the right side of the heart.
Bosentan— helps block the action of endothelin, a substance that causes narrowing of lung blood vessels.
Epoprostenol, treprostinil sodium, iloprost — dilates pulmonary arteries and helps prevent blood clots from forming.
Sildenafil— relaxes pulmonary smooth muscle cells, which leads to dilation of the pulmonary arteries.

Surgical therapies

Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy.
Lung transplantation. The right side of the heart will generally return to normal after the lung/lungs have been transplanted.Many people are on the waiting list, yet a shortage of donors is the major limiting factor. Your health care provider will discuss transplantation if it is an appropriate treatment option for your condition.
Heart/lung transplantation. This type of double organ transplant is very rare but is necessary for all patients who have combined lung and left heart failure.

Primary pulmonary hypertension is usually progressive and ultimately fatal. The immediate reduction in pulmonary artery pressure is associated with an improvement in right ventricular function.

Prognosis

The median duration of survival after the diagnosis of primary pulmonary hypertension is 2.8 years,25 but this figure is highly variable. As a result of new treatments, patients without hemodynamic evidence of right ventricular dysfunction may survive for more than 10 years.

The prognosis for patients with secondary pulmonary hypertension depends on the underlying disease, as well as right ventricular function. For instance, patients with COPD and moderate airflow obstruction have a three-year mortality rate of 50 percent after the onset of right ventricular failure.26 Survival is similarly influenced in patients with interstitial lung disease and pulmonary hypertension.

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