| GUIDELINES |
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| Year : 2014 | Volume
: 9
| Issue : 5 | Page : 121-126 |
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Saudi Guidelines on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Hypertension: Intensive care management of pulmonary hypertension
M. Ali Al-Azem1, Manal S. Al-Hazmi2
1 Department of Critical Care Medicine, King Fahd Specialist Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, King Fahd Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence Address:
M. Ali Al-Azem
MD, Chairman, Department of Critical Care, Consultant, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Assistant Professor of Medicine (KSU), King Fahad Specialist Hospital, P. O. Box: 15215, Dammam
Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1817-1737.134056
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) may be due to preexisting pulmonary vascular lung disease, liver disease, or cardiac diseases. PH also may be caused by critical illnesses, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute left ventricular dysfunction and pulmonary embolism, or may occur after cardiac or thoracic surgery.
Regardless of the underlying cause of PH, the final common pathway for hemodynamic deterioration and death is RV failure, which is the most challenging aspect of patient management. Therapy is thus aimed at acutely relieving RV overload by decreasing PVR and reversing RV failure with pulmonary vasodilators and inotropes. |
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