Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary hypertension is high blood pressure in the arteries that carry blood from the heart to the lungs, making the right side of the heart work harder over time.
When to get help quickly: Sudden severe breathlessness, chest pain, fainting, or coughing up blood needs urgent review.
Common symptoms
Breathlessness on exertion, fatigue, fainting or near-fainting, chest discomfort, and swelling in the legs as the condition progresses.
When imaging helps
Imaging shows the size of the heart chambers and pulmonary arteries, looks for an underlying lung or heart cause, and checks for blood clots in the pulmonary arteries.
What radiology does
Echocardiography estimates pulmonary artery pressures and right heart function; CT pulmonary angiography looks for clots; ventilation-perfusion scans help diagnose chronic thromboembolic disease.
What usually happens next
Treatment depends on the cause — specific medications for the underlying type of pulmonary hypertension, treating the lung or heart disease driving it, and sometimes specialist procedures.
Seen this on your report?
Your doctor or the radiologist who wrote it can tell you what it means for you.