What is Pulmonary Vascular Disease?
Pulmonary vascular disease includes a spectrum of conditions or diseases in which the most serious and common complication is pulmonary hypertension. While pulmonary hypertension can occur without any obvious relationship to other diseases (“primary pulmonary hypertension”) the majority of cases of pulmonary hypertension are seen in association with a variety of medical conditions and/or toxic exposures. These conditions may include blood clots in the lungs, congenital heart disease, heart and lung diseases which cause low oxygen levels, connective tissue or rheumatologic diseases, sleep apnea, liver disease, HIV infection and exposure to drugs such as amphetamines and diet pills. There are approximately 32,000 cases new cases of congenital heart disease per year in the United States and 1.5 million new cases worldwide. A large proportion of these patients has abnormalities of the pulmonary vasculature, including pulmonary hypertension. While pulmonary hypertension is now less common w
