News

Members from two families with diagnosed or suspected pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) each carried two copies of mutations that map to the CAPNS1 gene and are likely rare causes of the disease, according to a study. The study, “Biallelic variants in the calpain regulatory subunit CAPNS1 cause pulmonary…

More than half of people with pulmonary hypertension (PH) may experience symptoms during sexual activity, such as difficulty breathing (dyspnea), heart palpitations, and chest pain, a small study found. However, around 2 in 3 patients don’t consider it important to bring up the topic of sexuality to their…

Treatment with levosimendan — a medication seen to improve cardiac function — was associated with rapid clinical benefits in preterm infants with heart problems and pulmonary hypertension (PH), a study in Germany reports. The response to treatment was independent of the babies’ birth weight and how far along…

Molecular differences are evident between infants with severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) and those with severe BPD but not PH, a pilot study that used an integrated analysis of gene activity and protein production reported. PH is a common complication of BPD, a breathing disorder in…

Infants with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) who have blood type O responded better to inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) vasodilator therapy than those with other blood types, a small study reported. PPHN newborns with blood type A showed a similar response to type O newborns, while the…

Many people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) report better mental and physical health following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study found. “Unexpectedly, we found that some objective measures of pulmonary hypertension disease severity actually improved during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included longer 6-minute walk distances, lower NT-proBNP…

Among people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a measure of artery deformity called pulmonary artery longitudinal strain may be a predictor of risk of death, a study in Singapore reports. A GLS — or artery global longitudinal strain — below 9% was associated with a higher risk of death. Moreover,…

The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) will join together with more than 80 organizations worldwide on May 5 for World PH Day, seeking to raise awareness of the global impact of pulmonary hypertension (PH). This year’s theme is “United to Cure PH,” aimed at recognizing the global advances to…

Balloon pulmonary angioplasty, or BPA, can be an effective treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), a new study highlights. “Patients treated with BPA experienced improvement in functional class and exercise capabilities, with relatively low rates of procedure-related complications,” researchers wrote. The study, “Refined Balloon Pulmonary…

A gene called RASA3 may be a candidate gene — one suspected of playing a role in a specific trait or disorder — in the development of pulmonary hypertension (PH) among people with sickle cell disease (SCD), according to a new study. Reduced activity of RASA3 was evident…

Blood levels of a protein called thrombospondin-2 (TSP2) — related to clinically identifiable measures of right heart structure and function — are consistently increased across patients with different types of pulmonary hypertension (PH), a study in Germany suggests. According to the researchers, these data indicate “that plasma [blood] TSP2…

Tenax Therapeutics is planning to start a Phase 3 clinical trial of TNX-103 — oral levosimendan — to treat pulmonary hypertension and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (PH-HFpEF) later this year. People with PH-HFpEF have a normal heartbeat, but the heart muscle is too stiff to fill…