Cardiology Letters 2019, 28(1):26-32

Risk stratification in pulmonary artery hypertension: the way to better outcomes

Luknár M, Lesný P, Gonçalvesová E

Kardiologická klinika, Lekárská fakulta Univerzita Komenského a Národný ústav srdcových a cievnych chorôb, a. s., Bratislava, Slovenská republika

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare disease affecting small pulmonary arteries. It results in right ventricular pressure overload and failure. Despite the availability of new targeted pharmacologic treatment, PAH remains an incurable disease. The disease course is variable and it is thus necessary to identify patients with unfavourable prognosis. New tools for risk assessment both at initial presentation and at periodical examination have recently become available. They integrate individual risk markers. The aim of therapeutic measures is to achieve and maintain the low risk status. If this goal is not achieved, treatment escalation is recommended. The authors analyse recent approaches to risk assessment in PAH and its clinical importance for treatment decision making.

Keywords: pulmonary arterial hypertension; prognosis; stratification; risk; treatment

Published: January 1, 2019  Show citation