Treatment Guidelines

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Assessing Patient Risk

Chart

Key Treatment Goals

  • Improve quality of life and survival
  • Improve to Functional Class I or II
  • Improve 6-minute walking distance (to ≥380 m)
  • Improve hemodynamics
  • Alleviate symptoms

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Treatment Algorithm1

Treatment Algorithm

Key Treatment Guidelines1

  • General care consists of oral anticoagulants +/– diuretics +/– oxygen +/– digoxin
  • Acute vasoreactivity testing helps identify candidates for calcium channel blockers
  • If the patient is not considered vasoreactive, the above high- and low-risk algorithms help guide PAH-specific therapy selection

Pocket Guide (PDF)

Reference: 1. Adapted from McLaughlin VV, McGoon MD. Pulmonary arterial hypertension. Circulation. 2006;114:1417–1431.