Pulmonary Hypertension in an Oncologic Intensive Care Unit

The Registry to EValuate Early And Long-term pulmonary arterial hypertension disease management (REVEAL Registry) was established to provide updated characteristics of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and to improve diagnosis, treatment, and management. Fifty-four US centers enrolled consecutively screened patients with World Health Organization group I PAH who met expanded hemodynamic criteria of mean pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) > 25 mm Hg at rest (30 mm Hg with exercise), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) or= 240 dynes x s x cm(-5). Patients meeting the traditional hemodynamic definition (PCWP

The diverse causes of right-sided heart failure (RHF) include, among others, primary cardiomyopathies with right ventricular (RV) involvement, RV ischemia and infarction, volume loading caused by cardiac lesions associated with congenital heart disease and valvular pathologies, and pressure loading resulting from pulmonic stenosis or pulmonary hypertension from a variety of causes, including left-sided heart disease. Progressive RV dysfunction in these disease states is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this scientific statement is to provide guidance on the assessment and management of RHF.

All hospitalisations for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in the Scottish population were examined to determine the epidemiological features of PAH. These data were compared with expert data from the Scottish Pulmonary Vascular Unit (SPVU). Using the linked Scottish Morbidity Record scheme, data from all adults aged 16-65 yrs admitted with PAH (idiopathic PAH, pulmonary hypertension associated with congenital heart abnormalities and pulmonary hypertension associated with connective tissue disorders) during the period 1986-2001 were identified. These data were compared with the most recent data in the SPVU database (2005). Overall, 374 Scottish males and females aged 16-65 yrs were hospitalised with incident PAH during 1986-2001. The annual incidence of PAH was 7.1 cases per million population. On December 31, 2002, there were 165 surviving cases, giving a prevalence of PAH of 52 cases per million population. Data from the SPVU were available for 1997-2006. In 2005, the last year with a complete data set, the incidence of PAH was 7.6 cases per million population and the corresponding prevalence was 26 cases per million population. Hospitalisation data from the Scottish Morbidity Record scheme gave higher prevalences of pulmonary arterial hypertension than data from the expert centres (Scotland and France). The hospitalisation data may overestimate the true frequency of pulmonary arterial hypertension in the population, but it is also possible that the expert centres underestimate the true frequency.