Pulmonary Hypertension (Canada) Top 10
- What are the specific mechanisms that lead to development of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension?
- How can PH be reversed or put into remission and how can we measure disease modification or reversal, clinically?
- How can we predict which treatment or combination will work best for an individual PH patient (e.g. personalized medicine)?
- What are the mechanisms of right heart adaptation to PH and right heart failure?
- Which interventions or treatment strategies result in the best outcomes for patients with PH?
- What is the role of the immune system and auto-immunity in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and can treatments directed at the immune system help with PAH?
- What are the best tools to predict progression of pulmonary hypertension and how fast the disease will progress?
- What is the most effective and safe amount of exercise training for PH patients?
- Are there biomarkers that allow early detection of PH?
- Are stem cell therapies effective and safe for treating PH?
The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:
- What is the underlying cause of idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension?
- What are the mechanisms by which cardiac function continues to deteriorate despite an improvement in symptoms?
- When a PH patient needs surgery what are the best anesthetic approaches and if general anesthesia is required, which anesthetics are safest?
- How can we detect when the disease process (pulmonary hypertension) starts and how long does it take for symptoms to develop after it starts?
- What are the long-term consequences and complications in PH patients who are long term survivors?
- How can the delay to diagnosis of PH be reduced?
- For how long is PH treatment effective and will the effect wear off with time?
- Is there a relationship between iron deficiency and the development or progression of pulmonary arterial hypertension and if so, does treatment of iron deficiency improve outcomes?
- Can exercise testing be used to identify early PH and predict the risk of developing PH in the future?
- How can the side effects of pulmonary hypertension therapies be managed or reduced?
- What is the most accurate method to classify the severity or risk of a patient with PH?
- Are there any harmful longterm effects of medications used for PH?
- How can universal coverage for all PH medications be ensured in Canada?
- Can educational interventions targeted at clinicians in-training, primary care and second line (e.g. specialist) clinicians improve awareness of PH and lead to earlier diagnosis of PH?
- How do COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccinations affect people with PH?
Document downloads
For full details of all of the questions identified by this PSP, please see the document below.