A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot that forms in the artery that brings oxygen-rich blood to your lungs.
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When Does Pulmonary Hypertension Become Chronic Thromboembolic Disease?
Pulmonary hypertensionis an increase in the pressure in your lungs.
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Causes of CTEPH at Each Stage
There are many contributing factors to pulmonary hypertension.
In the case of chronic thromboembolic disease, the root cause is typically an acute pulmonary embolism.
A pulmonary embolism happens when blood clots form in the lungs and block blood flow.
Large clots must be treated immediately, but smaller clots may pass and can even go unnoticed.
Between 0.6% and 4.4% of people who develop a pulmonary embolism later develop CTEPH.
Typically, healthcare providers only diagnose it after a known acute pulmonary embolism (PE).
However, testing to confirm pulmonary hypertension usually comes first.
Testing involves a cardiac catheterization and echocardiogram to directly measure the pressure in your pulmonary artery.
Once pulmonary hypertension is confirmed, your healthcare team will determine the underlying contributors to create a treatment plan.
The preferred surgery in most cases is a pulmonarythromboendarterectomy(PTE) or pulmonaryendarterectomy.
This surgery uses a bypass gadget to redirect blood flow from your heart to aheart-lung bypass machine.
This surgery is very effective but highly invasive; not everyone is a candidate.
With this procedure, a healthcare provider inserts a tiny balloon into your pulmonary artery through a catheter.
The balloon is inflated to expand the pulmonary artery.
This increases blood flow to reduce the pressure your heart has to overcome to pump blood to the lungs.
If none of these options is viable, a completelung transplant might be consideredbut usually as a last resort.
American Lung Association.Learn about chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
American Society of Hematology.Blood clots.
National Institutes of Health.What is pulmonary hypertension?
CTEPH.com.Symptoms and risk factors.
National Institutes of Health.Pulmonary hypertension: diagnosis.
Pulmonary Hypertension Association.Types of pulmonary hypertension.
Yale Medicine.How surgery can fix CTEPH, a rare jot down of pulmonary hypertension.
