Pulmonary Hypertension

Who does what?

06/24/2008 12:32PM

Question:

I live in a small town so we don`t have a PH Specialist. So I am seeing a lung specialist and a cardiologist. Who do I go with. If my PH causes a problem with my heart do I go with a cardiologist and lung compucations the lung specialist. Is PH considered a heart or lung desease?

Answer:

Pulmonary arterial hypertension means that the pressures in the vessels that take the blood through the lungs are high. However, there are no problems with the left side of the heart such as previous heart attack or leaky or tight mitral valve. In this case, the high pressures in the lungs cause strain and enlargement of the right side of the heart (right ventricle). Therefore,it is a disease of the lungs but affects the heart. In some centers the lung doctors manage these patients; in others, it is the heart doctors. You should talk to your doctors and see what they think and then decide.

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Response by:

Namita Sood, MD, FCCP
Assistant Professor
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
Department of Internal Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University