Pulmonary Hypertension: Causes, Risk Factors & Treatment

When your pulmonary arteries, which carry oxygen-poor blood from your heart to your lungs, have high blood pressure, it is known as pulmonary hypertension.The disruption of blood flow via your heart and lungs caused by pulmonary hypertension makes it risky.?

Blood arteries in the lungs are constricted, clogged, or damaged in one type of pulmonary hypertension known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Damage reduces blood flow through the lungs and raises blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs. To pump blood through the lungs, the heart has to exert more effort. The additional strain eventually makes the heart muscle weak.

Pulmonary hypertension can be fatal in some persons and worsens gradually. Even while some forms of pulmonary hypertension have no known cure, therapy can aid with symptom reduction and quality of life enhancement.

Symptoms of Pulmonary Hypertension?

Pulmonary hypertension's signs and symptoms might take months or years to appear, as they grow very slowly. Nevertheless, as the illness worsens, the symptoms get worse.

Tiredness, chest pressure or pain, dizziness or fainting episodes, a rapid heartbeat or quick pulse, shortness of breath, swelling in the ankles and legs, and eventually swelling in the abdominal area are some signs and symptoms.

How Can Pulmonary Hypertension Impact Our Body?

Blood clots in the pulmonary arteries, anaemia, arrhythmias and pericardial effusion are just a few of the major health issues that pulmonary hypertension (PH) can lead to in your body. PH poses a risk to pregnant women since it can complicate labour and delivery for both the mother and the fetus.?

Pulmonary hypertension can cause your heart to work too hard and eventually be fatal if left untreated. To pump oxygen-poor blood to your lungs, your heart must work harder due to high blood pressure in your pulmonary arteries. This blood is pumped to your lungs by your right ventricle, which is located in the lower right chamber of your heart. As a result of the additional work, PH eventually causes your right ventricle to enlarge. Right ventricular hypertrophy is a disorder that can cause right-sided heart failure.

The effects of right-sided heart failure spread throughout your body. Many organs and systems' normal functions can be affected. It's critical that you receive a diagnosis and start treatment for pulmonary hypertension as soon as you can because it can have an impact on your entire body.?

Causes of Pulmonary Hypertension?

Two top chambers (atria) and two lower chambers make up the average heart (ventricles). The lower right chamber of the heart (right ventricle) pumps blood to the lungs via a sizable blood channel each time blood passes through the heart (pulmonary artery).

The blood releases carbon dioxide and absorbs oxygen in the lungs. Normally, the blood flows smoothly to the left side of the heart through the pulmonary arteries, capillaries, and veins.?

However, alterations in the cells that line the pulmonary arteries can result in the stiffening, swelling, and thickening of the artery walls. Pulmonary hypertension may result from these alterations that slow down or obstruct blood flow through the lungs.?

Risk Factors of Pulmonary Hypertension

People aged 30 to 60 are more frequently diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. The chance of developing Group 1 pulmonary hypertension, also known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), rises with age. Idiopathic PAH, on the other hand, is more prevalent in younger persons.?

Having a family history of the condition, being overweight, having clotting disorders or a family history of blood clots in the lungs, being exposed to asbestos, having a congenital heart condition, residing at a high altitude, using certain drugs (including some weight-loss medications), and using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are additional factors that can increase the risk of developing pulmonary hypertension (used to treat depression and anxiety).?

Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension

Since pulmonary hypertension is rarely found during a standard physical examination, it might be challenging to identify early. Pneumo Tension has symptoms and signs with other heart and lung disorders, even when it is more advanced.

Blood tests, chest X-rays, electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, and right heart catheterization are some of the imaging and blood procedures used to detect pulmonary hypertension.

If the cause is identified and treated quickly, your pulmonary arteries, which are the blood vessels that nourish your lungs, may be able to be preserved. Treatments for pulmonary hypertension will concentrate on the underlying illness if it is brought on by another disorder, such as a heart or lung issue.

If blood clots in the pulmonary arteries are the root cause of pulmonary hypertension, anticoagulant medications may be prescribed to you to stop the formation of new clots. If you have pulmonary arterial hypertension, you will be directed to a centre that specialises in treating this kind of illness (PAH).?

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Are you experiencing any symptoms of pulmonary hypertension??

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