Current practice for pulmonary hypertension

To investigate the current practice of pulmonary hypertension including current epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment.

The review was based on data obtained from the published articles and guidelines.

Articles with high level of evidence or current best evidence in each issue were selected to be reviewed.

Overall prevalence of pulmonary hypertension was 0.3% to 6% with left heart disease occupying the most proportion, followed by pulmonary disease, pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. In diagnosis, a flow diagram of diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension, differential diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension and how to determine the severity of pulmonary hypertension are explained including recent development of magnetic resonance imaging and gene abnormality study on bone morphogenetic protein receptor II. In treatment, newly-developed pulmonary vasodilators and the way to use them are shown to treat pulmonary hypertension.

Safer and more effective treatment algorithm and basic researches and clinical trials are warranted to be explored.