Extract
Widespread availability of Doppler echocardiography, combined with increasing community awareness of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) as an important and treatable disease, results in frequent referral of patients with suspected PAH to tertiary pulmonary hypertension centres. While this state of affairs is laudable, it does result in substantial numbers of patients who turn out not to have PAH being seen at tertiary pulmonary hypertension centres. In this issue of the European Respiratory Journal, Jacobs et al. [1] describe the retrospective development and prospective validation of a simple tool designed to improve accurate noninvasive distinction between PAH and pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease (systolic, diastolic or valvular; World Classification of pulmonary hypertension group 2). This tool was derived from analysis of patients with PAH or group 2 pulmonary hypertension seen at a major European pulmonary hypertension centre. It may enhance noninvasive exclusion of group 1 PAH in a subset of patients seen with pulmonary hypertension who have risk factors for group 2 pulmonary hypertension.
Abstract
PAH or left heart disease with PH? Perspective on group 1 and 2 PH differentiators and a call for a unified approach http://ow.ly/OtRxU
Footnotes
The viewpoints expressed in this editorial are those of the author, and are not meant to represent the official viewpoint of the European Respiratory Journal or the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
Conflict of interest: Disclosures can be found alongside the online version of this article at erj.ersjournals.com
- Received March 20, 2015.
- Accepted June 14, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS 2015