[Update in the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension]

Abstract

The term pulmonary hypertension includes a heterogeneous group of disorders which produce an obstructive remodeling of the lung vessels characterized by a steady rise in pulmonary arterial pressure. The ensuing morbidity and mortality of this disease result from the failure of the right ventricle to compensate this increase in the after-load. The conditions to achieve an optimum treatment of pulmonary hypertension patients are: a clinical presumption and early diagnosis, an adequate stratification based on the underlying causes and the different vascular territories involved, the response to therapy and the degree of severity, the selection of the different therapeutic alternatives and their timely indication. These recommendations are aimed at the general practitioner and their objective is to facilitate the early detection, diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension patients, representing a major change in the prognosis. Moreover, as the diagnostic evaluation requires complementary tests that are not usually available in all medical centers, they can also be used as the basis to request a timely referral to institutions with the adequate complexity.