Pulmonary Hypertension: (Oxford Specialist Handbooks in Cardiology)

High pressure in the lungs, or pulmonary hypertension, is most commonly due to smoking-related lung disease and conditions affecting the left heart, for example, high blood pressure in the arteries, faulty heart valves, and a weakened heart muscle. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), is a rare and complex disease, associated with many different medical conditions, which is caused by a growth of cells lining the inside of the lung arteries, resulting in high pressure in areas of the body. Both conditions lead to strain and potential failure of the right heart, and therefore awareness and early diagnosis of the condition is needed to lead to better outcomes: however this depends on education of all specialists and primary care clinicians about PAH. This practical handbook covers both PH and PAH, providing information required by the wide range of clinicians who will encounter these conditions, including cardiologists, respiratory physicians, rheumatologists, specialists in liver and AIDS medicine, and haematologists. It covers what it is, who it is likely to affect, how it is diagnosed, including the pitfalls of the various diagnostic tests, the different and evolving forms of treatment, long term management of this often devastating chronic disease, and the crucial role of multidisciplinary management in optimizing clinical care of these patients who usually have multi-system diseases. It also covers the up new classification for both PH and PAH, and new drugs that have recently become available.

Table of Contents:
1: History of pulmonary hypertension and the circulation 2: Definitions of pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial hypertension 3: Clinical classification of pulmonary hyptertension 4: Pathology of pulmonary hyptertension 5: Pathology of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension 6: Pathobiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension 7: Inflammation, growth factors and thrombosis in pulmonary arterial hypertension 8: Genetics and genomics of pulmonary arterial hypertension 9: Epidemiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension 10: Risk factors for pulmonary arterial hypertension 11: Pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension in non-pulmonary arterial hypertension groups 12: Pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with connective tissue diseases 13: Systemic sclerosis 14: Systemic lupus erythematosus 15: Sjögren's syndrome 16: Polymyositis and dermatomyositis 17: HIV 18: Porto-pulmonary hypertension 19: Venous thromboembolism and acute pulmonary embolism 20: Acute pulmonary embolism 21: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension 22: Pulmonary hypertension associated with congenital systemic-to-pulmonary cardiac shunts 23: Schistomiasis 24: Chronic haemolytic anaemias and pulmonary arterial hypertension 25: Interstitial lung disease and pulmonary hypertension 26: Prognosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension 27: The right ventricle 28: Clinical features of pulmonary arterial hypertension 29: Haemodynamics and treatment approaches in pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease 30: Diagnostic algorithm 31: Simple investigations 32: Ventilation/perfusion scanning 33: Echocardiography 34: Non-invasive exercise testing 35: Cardiac catheterisation 36: Management of pulmonary arterial hypertension 37: General measures 38: Contraception in pulmonary arterial hypertension 39: Risks of pregnancy and contraception 40: Lifestyle issues 41: Elective surgery in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension 42: Supportive therapy 43: Management of arrhythmias 44: Advanced therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension 45: Endothelin and endothelin receptor antagonists 46: Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitors 47: Classes of recommendations for procedures and treatments 48: Drug interactions with pulmonary arterial hypertension targeted therapies 49: Combination therapy in pulmonary arterial hypertension 50: Problems in conducting pulmonary arterial hypertension drug trials 51: Atrial septostomy 52: Translation

About the Author :
Clive Handler BSc, MD, MRCP, FACC FESC qualified from Guy's Hospital Medical School. He trained in cardiology at Guy's Hospital and at University College and Middlesex Hospitals. He was consultant Cardiologist at Northwick Park and St Mary's Hospitals and is now consultant in pulmonary hypertension in the National Pulmonary Hypertension Unit, Royal Free Hospital, London, and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospitals and Honorary Senior Lecturer in Medicine, University College London, Medical School. He also works at both Highgate Hospital and the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth.