Stacy Grieve, PhD,  —

A large review of clinical trials evaluating whether pulmonary hypertension (PH)-targeted therapies can improve exercise capacity in patients with pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease (PH-LHD) found varying effectiveness and modest benefit. The findings were reported in the study “Pulmonary hypertension-targeted therapies in heart failure: A systematic…

Treatment with Phps-1, which inhibits a protein called Shp2, was able to alleviate specific symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in a rat model, suggesting that Shp2 may be a potential therapeutic target for PAH treatment, a study reports. The study, “Inhibition of Shp2 ameliorates monocrotaline-induced…

Larger pulmonary hypertension (PH) registries are needed to advance knowledge about this disease and improve patient care, a new study emphasizes. The report outlines data from a Latvian PH registry and compares it with registries across Europe — and recommends combining registries. With internet access now common and worldwide, patient…

Patients with mutations in the EIF2AK4 gene have worse outcomes than others with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), researchers report, suggesting that genetic tests be given these people — often diagnosed with PAH — to determine if they actually have pulmonary vena-occlusive disease (PVOD) or pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis (PCH) and can be treated…

A recent article that presented case studies of three patients with rheumatoid arthritis-associated pulmonary hypertension (PH), highlights the diversity of the underlying causes of the disease, and emphasizes the importance of diagnosing it early. The study “Rheumatoid arthritis associated pulmonary hypertension: Clinical challenges reflecting the diversity of pathophysiology”…

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare complication in hepatitis C or multiple sclerosis patients using interferon α or β therapy, but still one that’s substantially more common in these people than in the general population, suggesting a link between the therapy and PAH, researchers reported. Type I interferons, including interferon α and β, are naturally occurring compounds in the body,…