Symptoms and diagnosis
The main symptom of pulmonary arterial hypertension is breathlessness. Further investigations usually include an echocardiogram and right heart catheterisation. This involves passing a catheter through a vein into the right side of the heart and then into the pulmonary artery to check the pressure.
If left untreated, the right side of the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the lungs, which weakens the heart muscle and can cause the right side of the heart to fail. This is called right heart failure, and is the main cause of death in people with this condition.
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