Does Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (IPAH) as opposed to PAH associated with other diseases (APAH) have a better prognosis/life expectancy?
The prognosis in APAH depends on the specific cause and the severity. Some studies suggest that APAH due to collagen vascular diseases like scleroderma has a worse prognosis than IPAH, but this depends on severity when it is detected. PAH due to congenital heart disease tends to have a better prognosis than idiopathic IPAH. Portopulmonary hypertension and HIV-related PAH have prognoses similar to that of idiopathic. Although not technically an “associated” PAH because it is classified in a different group, PH due to chronic pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs), known as Chronic Thromboembolic PH (CTEPH) has an excellent prognosis when the clots can be removed surgically. Explain cardiac output measurements. Cardiac output is the amount of blood the heart pumps in one minute. In a healthy individual this amounts to about 4-6 liters per minute. It is also expressed as cardiac index, which corrects the output for body surface area and is reported in liters per minute per meter sq
