title: Pulmonary arterial hypertension secondary to chronic left-sided cardiac dysfunction in dogs.
abstract: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a description of a physiological finding rather than a diagnosis. Pulmonary arterial pressure is the result of interactions among pulmonary blood flow (right ventricular cardiac output), pulmonary vascular impedance and post-capillary pressure (typically reflecting left atrial pressure). When elevations in pulmonary arterial pressure (systolic/diastolic pulmonary arterial pressure > approximately 30/19 mmHg at rest) are accompanied by increased left atrial pressure, pulmonary arterial hypertension may be considered secondary to left-heart failure. Introduction of Doppler methods to diagnose pulmonary arterial hypertension has increased the awareness of the prevalence and importance of pulmonary arterial hypertension dogs with left-heart failure. Increasing understanding of the mechanism of development of pulmonary venous hypertension and reactive pulmonary arterial hypertension in dogs with left-heart disease has led to the development of successful additive therapies for progressive clinical signs in the setting of chronic therapy for congestive heart failure due to left-sided valvular and myocardial dysfunction. Because effective therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension secondary to chronic left-sided cardiac dysfunction are now available, screening for pulmonary arterial hypertension should be a regular part of the Doppler echocardiographic examination in a clinical setting of chronic therapy for left-sided congestive heart failure due to valvular or myocardial disease.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin, School of Veterinary Medicine, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Stepien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000662:veterinary; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D004285:Dogs; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler / Q000662:veterinary; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy / Q000662:veterinary*