Pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension is abnormally high pressure in the pulmonary arteries, which carry blood from the heart to the lungs. It increases the workload on the right side of the heart and can lead to heart failure.

Pulmonary vascular resistance: The opposition to blood flow through the pulmonary circulation, determined by pressure differences and flow. Increased resistance is a common reason pressure rises in the pulmonary arteries.
Pulmonary circulation: The route blood takes from the right side of the heart through the lungs and back to the left side. Pulmonary hypertension occurs in this circuit, rather than in the body-wide circulation.
Pulmonary function testing: Tests that measure lung volumes, airflow, and gas transfer. Results can reveal lung disease contributing to pulmonary hypertension.
Systemic hypertension: Persistently elevated blood pressure in the arteries supplying the body's organs. It affects the systemic circulation, whereas pulmonary hypertension affects lung arteries.
Right ventricular hypertrophy: Thickening of the muscular wall of the heart’s right ventricle. The right ventricle thickens as it works against persistently elevated pulmonary artery pressure.
Mean pulmonary artery pressure: The average pressure in the pulmonary artery over a cardiac cycle. This measured pressure is used to define pulmonary hypertension.
Ventilation–perfusion scan: An imaging test comparing airflow to the lungs with blood flow through them. It is used to detect chronic blood clots that may obstruct pulmonary arteries.
Left-sided heart disease: Disorders that impair the left atrium, left ventricle, or heart valves. These disorders can raise pressure backward into the pulmonary circulation.
Right ventricular failure: Failure of the right ventricle to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. Progressive pressure overload can weaken the right ventricle and impair its pumping.
Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure: A catheter-based estimate of pressure in the left atrium, obtained by temporarily occluding a small pulmonary artery branch. It helps distinguish pulmonary arterial disease from pressure elevation caused by left-heart disease.

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