Pulmonary Hypertension: Diagnosis, Guidelines and Treatment

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined as a mean arterial pressure of ≥25 mmHg as confirmed on right heart catheterization. PH can be classified into several subgroups: primary PH, associated with left heart disease, primary respiratory disease, thromboembolic disease, and miscellaneous.
 Clinical Presentation has a high morbidity and mortality due to the lack of clinical PH recognition.
Reversing predisposing causes and PH treatments are more effective before significant structural remodeling has developed.

Identifying these patients with PH can be difficult and some guidelines are listed below:
Pulmonary Hypertension
 Signalment and Clinical Signs
• No breed predispositions

• Heartworm status
• Congenital heart disease
• Mitral valve disease 

• Look for diseases associated with PH development (pneumonia, chronic lung disease, IMHA, hyperadrenocorticism, neoplasia)
• Look for clinical signs suggestive of PH