The PAH community is fortunate to have many treatment options. 14 medications are approved and probably more coming. But for some patients, medications are not enough. We have long recognized that patients with congenital heart disease (abnormal communications in their heart) who have PAH have a much better prognosis. What is Atrial Septostomy? In certain parts of the … [Read more...]
How Am I Doing? Assessing Your PAH.
Perhaps the most common question that I get asked by my patients is “How am I doing”. This is both a simple and a complicated question. Over the past 20 years we have developed many tools to assess how a patient with PAH is doing. We have a long list of tests that we can perform from heart catheterization, echocardiography, blood tests, walk tests and we are continually … [Read more...]
The Holiday Season and Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
The holiday season is upon us and there will be many temptations over the next six weeks. Is there a way to enjoy the season and avoid putting your health at risk? Watching Your Salt Intake Few meals are more American than Thanksgiving dinner. Classic fare includes turkey with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry relish, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. Lurking in these … [Read more...]
Pulmonary Artery Denervation as a Treatment for PAH
Pulmonary arterial hypertension is caused by abnormal changes in the pulmonary arteries of patients. These changes include increased thickness of the muscle layer of the pulmonary arteries and increased stiffness of the pulmonary arteries. Over the last 25 years, 14 medications have been approved to try and treat these changes. These medications have resulted in dramatic … [Read more...]
Stem Cell Therapy—Avoid the Scam
It has been some time since I last wrote about avoiding Stem Cell Therapy. Recently several of my patients have been suckered into this trap. Stem cells are bone marrow derived cells that have the potential to divide and become cells of any part of our body. There is great promise in trying to understand how to develop effective treatments that use these cells. … [Read more...]
