Learning and research

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common complication in interstitial lung disease (ILD), but the additional burden it imposes on patients and healthcare systems is not well characterized. This retrospective analysis of claims data from the US Merative MarketScan database assessed hospitalization rates and costs over 2 years in patients with connective tissue disease-related ILD (CTD-ILD) and non-CTD-ILD with or without PH (between January 2017 and December 2019). Index was the date of first ILD claim; baseline was the 12-month preindex period.

Part of the 'Hypoxia in pulmonary vascular research – altitude and beyond' webinar series by the High Altitude Task Force, who raise awareness and understanding of PH linked to high altitude and organise scientific conferences in regions affected by high altitudes.

Idiopathic Pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a debilitating lung condition marked by chronic progression and reduced lung function. This study aimed to explore the functional role and regulatory mechanism of circular RNA circ_0044226 in the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. 

Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is a highly effective treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). However, persistent or recurrent pulmonary hypertension (persistent/recurrent PH) following surgery can adversely impact patients’ outcomes. 

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction is a critical yet often underrecognized determinant of prognosis in patients with advanced interstitial lung disease (ILD) undergoing lung transplant evaluation.

Part of the Latin America Task Force new webinar series, the first session aims to evaluate PH and differential diagnosis, and the differences in phenotype presentations in Latin America and USA / Europe.

The resistance–compliance (RC) relationship between pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) and pulmonary arterial compliance (PAC) provides an integrative measure of global right ventricular (RV) afterload. However, debate persists regarding the clinical utility of PAC calculated using the empiric formula (PACempiric), and the ideal method for calculating PAC. 

It was a Sunday morning. That was the only time Drs. Pat Daily or Walt Dembitsky could review cases before they operated on Monday. It was 1986, and I was a pulmonary fellow, so my presence at this meeting with Dr. Kenneth Moser (1929–1997) (Figure 1) was as an observer, not a participant. 

In 1988, I had spent over 2 years at the Physiological Institute, working on the competition between skin- and muscle blood flow for cardiac output in man during exercise, when I started my residency in Internal Medicine. There I met Werner Seeger, who was a consultant and was directing the Intensive Care Unit at that time. He enrolled me in his research group, which focused on acute respiratory stress syndrome (ARDS), a condition characterised by a ventilation-perfusion mismatch that results in competition for blood flow between well- and poorly ventilated lung areas, a topic I had previously explored in my scientific work.

In this PH Community Call we discussed: 

• Risk Assessment Models and Event-Free Survival in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
• PINK1/Parkin Deficiency Enhances Vascular Remodeling and Aggravates Hypoxia-induced Pulmonary Hypertension