Pulmonary hypertension, or pulmonary arterial hypertension, is a disease that is characterized by increased pressure in the pulmonary artery system. The main cause of this disease is usually an increase in resistance in the vascular bed of the lungs. The second factor that can affect the development of pulmonary hypertension is an increase in the volume of pulmonary blood flow.
General information about the disease
Pulmonary hypertension affects women twice as often as a strong sex. The average age of patients is 35 years. Despite the fact that this age can still be called young, in the work of the pulmonary artery problems may already appear.
Pulmonary hypertension refers to family or sporadic diseases. To be precise, sporadic cases, which occur periodically and not systematically, occur ten times more often than family ones.
When the disease is of a family nature, there is a high risk of a mutation in the receptor gene for the bone morphogenetic protein type 2. This can complicate the treatment process.
Symptoms of primary pulmonary hypertension
Signs of primary (idiopathic) pulmonary hypertension are many:
- Variable vasoconstriction. This term means that the lumen of the blood vessels, especially the arteries, narrowed.
- Smooth muscle hypertrophy - thickening of the walls of blood vessels.
- Remodeling of the walls of blood vessels. Symptom manifests itself in any form of arterial hypertension, manifested with the help of adaptive modification of the functions and morphology of blood vessels. Vascular remodeling is also a sign of disease progression, so this is taken very seriously and the response is immediate.
In addition, vasoconstriction indicates a specific change in the body. Symptom is a consequence of increased activity of thromboxane, endothelin and a decrease in the active action of prostacyclin and nitric oxide. Thus, vasoconstrictors are significantly activated, and vasodilators reduce activity.
The first symptoms of pulmonary hypertension
The patient is in a position to determine the general symptoms of pulmonary hypertension, which are manifested first. It is impossible not to notice an increase in blood pressure in half. The patient has excessive fatigue, shortness of breath with the usual load and discomfort in the chest, which is accompanied by fainting . These symptoms are called indirect signs of pulmonary hypertension, since they can signal about many other diseases and problems, so they are most often not noticed.
Also, the patient quickly loses weight even with full nutrition, feels exhausted, the mood can often be characterized as depressed, even without any reasons for that. Of the more obvious signs, a frequent dry cough and a hoarse voice can be noted. The brain experiences
Symptoms of moderate pulmonary hypertension
Moderate form of the disease is the most dangerous, since its symptoms are not very pronounced, because of what they can be found only in the late stages of disease progression. The main feature is the increase in pressure two or more times compared with the norm.
Summing up, we can say that the symptoms of a complex disease are blurred enough. In the beginning, they can be justified by fatigue, moral exhaustion or age. But in order to avoid serious health problems, it is necessary to consult a doctor without delay with the first negative changes in health.