PHA Puts Special Focus on CTEPH for Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) is planning a series of events for November, Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month, including a daylong focus on chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a form of pulmonary hypertension (PH) that results from blood clots in the lungs.

Events planned for CTEPH Awareness Day, Nov. 15, include promoting information about the two diagnostic tests necessary for properly detecting this disease and available treatment options, as well as group celebrations, a Twitter chat (#CTEPHchat), an educational webinar for patients and another for clinicians, and a social media video competition, called the ‘A Heart Cures Challenge.’

Just as PH cannot be diagnosed without a right-heart catheterization, a CTEPH diagnosis requires ventilation/perfusion scan (V/Q scan) and/or a pulmonary angiogram (X-ray of blood or lymph vessels).

The challenge (#AHeartCures) starts on Nov. 1, and invites people to publicly acknowledge random acts of kindness. Participants must record a 10- to 30-second video in which they thank loved ones for support when it was needed the most, or family, friends or strangers for showing a kindness when it was least expected. The CTEPH social media challenge runs through the entire month, a time of thanksgiving.

According to a press release, these CTEPH awareness-raising efforts are being support with funding from Bayer Healthcare.

PHA also joined with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) on Oct. 13, World Thrombosis Day, to raise awareness about the dangers of blood clots, particularly those that can block arteries in the lungs.

CTEPH is estimated to occur in 3.8% of patients who suffer from an acute pulmonary embolism (PE), a blood clot in the pulmonary arteries. Although most types of PH have no cure, CTEPH patients can be candidates for a pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE), a surgical procedure that removes chronic clots from the lungs to reduce or even normalize blood pressure there.