Cor Vasa 2009, 51(1):49-51 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2009.013

Do you consider the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension in elderly patients?

Blanka Kočišková^1,*, Yvona Kotroušová², Pavel Jansa³

¹ Interní ambulance, Blatná

² Ambulance praktického lékaře, Blatná

³ II. interní klinika kardiologie a angiologie, Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice a 1. lékařská fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, Praha, Česká republika

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is generally known to be a hereditary disease; it is believed to develop predominantly in younger individuals. In fact, the diagnosis of PAH is usually established later, when patients are about 41-60 years old. The main reason for the late diagnosis is the non-specific presentation of the disease. Additional reasons may include the short time elapsed from the definition of the diagnosis and the fairly poor therapeutic options available until recently, explaining the shift of detection and treatment of the disease towards elderly patients. It would be a shame not to take the opportunity today when the latest methods of treatment of PAH are available to us.

Keywords: Pulmonary arterial hypertension; Specific treatment; Prostanoids; Endothelin receptor antagonists; Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors

Published: January 1, 2009  Show citation