Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about pulmonary hypertension.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash pulmonary hypertension

or in the respiratory section of the second edition of the zero to finals

medicine book. So let's get straight into it. Pulmonary hypertension refers to increased

resistance and pressure in the pulmonary arteries in the lungs. It causes strain on the right side of the heart as it

tries to pump blood through the pulmonary vessels in the lungs. This increased resistance in the

pulmonary system causes back pressure into the right hand side of the heart and the systemic venous

system, meaning that the venous system or the heart and the systemic venous system, meaning that

the venous system or the veins in the body have a more difficult time draining because there's

increased resistance on the right hand side of the heart and into the pulmonary vessels.

Pulmonary hypertension is defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of more than 20 millimeters of mercury.

Let's talk about the causes. The causes of pulmonary hypertension can be classified into five groups.

Group one is idiopathic pulmonary hypertension or hypertension due to connective tissue disease,

for example systemic lupus erythematosis.

Group 2 is due to left-sided heart failure, usually due to a myocardial infarction or heart attack,

or systemic hypertension hypertension or high blood

pressure.

Group 3 is due to chronic lung disease, for example CPD or pulmonary fibrosis.

Group 4 is due to pulmonary vascular disease, for example a pulmonary embolism,

and group 5 is due to miscellaneous causes such as sarcoidosis, glycogen storage diseases,

and hematological disorders.

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