Margarida Maia, PhD,  science writer—

A new study has found that there are nine metabolites — molecules that take part in metabolism — in the blood that can tell pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) linked to systemic sclerosis from idiopathic PAH, the label given when the disease is due to an unknown cause. Researchers also…

Preterm babies who grow with too little amniotic fluid (also called waters), or are born too small for their age, are at greater risk of developing pulmonary hypertension in the first two weeks of life, a meta-analysis study found. Babies with early pulmonary hypertension (PH) were more likely to…

When done during pregnancy, an echocardiogram — a noninvasive measurement of heart function that uses sound waves — may help doctors predict pulmonary hypertension in newborns, a study in China suggests. An echocardiogram can show how well the heart’s right ventricle, one of its bottom pumping chambers, will push…

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) induced in response to exercise may be linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a small study found. Those with a higher CV risk had fewer CD4 T-cells, a type of immune cell that drops to extremely…

The gut microbiota of patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) differs from that of healthy individuals, and this perhaps explains why there also is more inflammation, a Japanese study found. The findings provide new information on the way CTEPH may develop. The study, “Altered gut microbiota and…

Breathing problems are more common in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction who also have pulmonary hypertension (PH) than in those who do not have PH, a study reported. Patients with PH also had poorer lung function and long-term survival than those without PH. However, while spirometry…

A calcium channel called TRPC6 may offer a new target for the development of treatments for pulmonary hypertension (PH), including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a mouse study suggests. Researchers also found that a calcium channel blocker called BI-749327, given orally, reversed PH in a mouse model of the…

Local anesthesia is better than general anesthesia for both the mother and her baby when delivery is by cesarean section (C-section) and the woman has pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a study suggests. These findings might help to guide doctors in selecting the best approach to anesthesia for women in labor.

Oxygen therapy may help relieve lung pressure in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) who are about to undergo balloon pulmonary angioplasty, a procedure in which balloons are used to open blood vessels that have been chronically narrowed or blocked, according to a new study. Researchers found a decrease…

A peptide — a short chain of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins — called BPC 157 may prevent or counteract pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and its complications, according to a preclinical study in a rat model of the disease. The findings suggest that BPC 157 may…

Certain chemokines — signaling molecules that attract white blood cells to sites of infection — may be blood markers of both a person’s risk of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and this disease’s likely course in a patient, a study found. PAH is considered idiopathic when its cause is unknown…

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) — an umbrella term for conditions caused by a buildup of fat in the liver — is about twice as common among people who have pulmonary hypertension (PH) than among those who do not, a review of almost 19,000 people has shown. The finding…