[tri-med] Re: Pulmonary Hypertension/Tess in hospital

At 05:33 AM 27/05/2006, you wrote:
>-
>
>Hi Jocelyn...please do keep updating as you can :o) And can someone please
>explain exactly what Pulmonary Hypertension is???

Hi Penny,

I was hoping Karen might jump in here and rescue me (smile) in the 
time it has taken me to look this up, so I would get it right, but in 
the meantime, here goes.


Heart Diseases





Primary Pulmonary Hypertension

<http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/heart-encyclopedia/disease//health/heart-encyclopedia/glossary.htm>
Look up a term in The Heart Center glossary.



Explanation | Causes | Incidence | Signs and Symptoms | Diagnosis | 
Treatments | Prognosis | Follow-Up



What is primary pulmonary hypertension?

Primary pulmonary hypertension is a clinical syndrome where the blood 
flow that leaves the right side of the heart faces an increased 
resistance (pressure).

Normally blood flows from the right ventricle into the pulmonary 
arteries and then flows into smaller and smaller blood vessels until 
it reaches the capillaries (thin walled blood vessels near the small 
air chambers of the lungs or alveoli). There gas exchange occurs 
where oxygen is picked up and carbon dioxide is released. The blood 
vessels have muscles in their walls that can regulate their diameter 
and thereby allow more or less blood flow to enter the capillaries.

In primary pulmonary hypertension, the blood vessels of the lungs 
have an increased amount of muscle in the walls. This causes a higher 
resistance in the lungs. The right ventricle then has to work harder 
to pump blood out to the lungs. The right ventricle will enlarge and 
thicken in response to this extra work. With time, the extra work 
placed on the right side of the heart can cause it to fail.

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Primary pulmonary hypertension causes

No one knows what causes primary pulmonary hypertension. It may also 
be referred to as idiopathic pulmonary hypertension. There are causes 
of elevated pressures in the lungs that are secondary or a result of 
some other process.

Certain types of congenital heart disease can, if left unrepaired, 
lead to high pressure in the lungs. Primary lung problems such as 
cystic fibrosis or bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) can lead to 
elevated resistance in the lungs.

Infants are normally born with high pressures in the lungs which over 
the course of the first few hours to few days of life resolve.

However, some babies continue to have high pressures in the lungs 
even after this time and are referred to as having primary or 
persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn.

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