What is Congenital Heart Disease? As we are developing from a single egg fertilized by a single sperm, cells divide and begin to develop into the different tissues of our adult bodies.  This is a very complex process that is like a kind of perfectly choreographed ballet.  A special cluster of cells slowly differentiates into the cardiovascular system.  Cells that become the … [Read more...]

What is Sarcoidosis? Sarcoidosis is an uncommon and poorly understood multisystem disease that commonly affects the lungs and lymph nodes.  However, it may affect any organ of the body.  Despite decades of research, the exact cause remains unknown.  The most common manifestation of the disease is enlarged lymph nodes in the chest and nodules and scarring in the lungs.  The … [Read more...]

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...]

This question comes up all the time in the evaluation and care of pulmonary hypertension patients.  We have received a number of questions from readers asking about whether a heart catheterization is needed.  I thought it might be useful to review some basics about right heart catheterization.  Below are some commonly asked questions about the procedure. 1.      Do I need to … [Read more...]

An echocardiogram (or echo) is an ultrasound-based test that can tell us a great deal about your heart.  By bouncing and receiving ultrasound waves off your heart and adjacent structures, we can generate images of your heart.  We can learn about the size and function of the right and left side of your heart and the valves. We can estimate pressures but not directly measure … [Read more...]