ABSTRACT
Pulmonary hypertension refers to an increase in blood pressure within the pulmonary vasculature and this chapter discusses the causes and clinical features. Contemporary pulmonary hypertension guidelines use echo to grade the probability of pulmonary hypertension being present, rather than trying to calculate the actual pulmonary artery pressures. This chapter describes how to undertake this grading using tricuspid regurgitation peak velocity plus a combination of ventricular indicators, pulmonary artery indicators and inferior vena cava/right atrial indicators. The chapter also describes how to estimate pulmonary artery systolic and diastolic pressures, where appropriate to do so.
