Since November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness month, we like to reflect on the progress made on this site and in the PAH community in general. 2014 has been an important and busy year for pulmonary hypertension. First, we would like to thank our readers for making this website a tremendous success. Each month, thousands of people visit this site to learn about pulmonary … [Read more...]
What Does the Pulmonary Artery Pressure Really Tell Us?
I received a great question from a reader this week. The reader asked why some patients are quite disabled from Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension when they have only moderately elevated pulmonary artery pressures and other patients can have very high pulmonary artery pressures and yet remain very functional, even working full time. This question gets at a key concept of PAH. … [Read more...]
A Refresher on Salt Intake with Pulmonary Hypertension
One of the most common problems I see on a daily basis is that patients struggle to limit their salt intake to the 2,000mg per day goal for Pulmonary Hypertension patients. Unlike fluid restrictions where everyone can measure precisely how much fluid they drink, keeping track of salt intake can be very difficult. Let’s start with some basic terms. Salt is the same as … [Read more...]
Combination Therapy for PAH Approved by FDA
For the first time, the FDA has approved the use of two medications as initial therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension. In response to the recently published AMBITION study results, the FDA has approved the use of Letairis (ambrisentan) and Adcirca (tadalafil) to be used as initial therapy in newly diagnosed patients with PAH. Previously, many physicians would prescribe … [Read more...]
When Two Problems Exist at the Same Time
Treating Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension When There is Also Another Medical Problem, Such as Diastolic Heart Failure. We have received a variety of questions about how to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension when a second medical problem is present at the same time. This is a very common situation in clinical practice. I would like to focus on how to approach the … [Read more...]
