In Search of Elusive ‘Roadmap to a Cure,’
PH Community Finds Another Touchstone
at Scientific Sessions
“Roadmap to a cure” sounds like a great theme for a medical
conference but clinicians involved with pulmonary hypertension
(PH) may view the title with more than a little skepticism
because we all know how much work lies ahead before a cure
can truly be achieved. The roadmap is actually elusive and the
path has many pitfalls. Nevertheless, if the organizers of this
year’s Seventh International Pulmonary Hypertension Conference
and Scientific Sessions reached a bit too far with their title for what is actually
not yet within our grasp, they also created Scientific Sessions filled with so
much promise and hope that perhaps all attendees came away sensing that,
indeed, we are not far from creating the roadmap to a cure. At least the
sessions gave us another touchstone, a reference point and glimpse of signs
guiding us in this direction.
There were so many signs at this meeting—one of the few scientific meetings
with a patient and physician component attended by hundreds of caregivers and
patients alike—that the program has evolved into a major medical meeting for
cardiologists and pulmonologists who want to keep pace with research and
state-of-the-art practice in this field. It is the only conference devoted exclusively
to pulmonary hypertension.
Perhaps the best description of the roadmap theme came from Greg
Elliott, MD, Chair of the Scientific Sessions Committee, whom we congratulate
for helping to design an excellent program. He noted: “The roadmap developed
by the efforts of so many in our community leads us toward our ultimate goal:
finding a cure for this devastating condition. Coming together every two years
at the International Conferences provides the perfect opportunity to survey our
progress and to plan future work.” As Dr Elliott added, the conference is another
benchmark, and he expressed the hope that “the ideas shared at this conference
will spark the beginning of some spectacular advances in understanding PH that
we will be able to share and speak about two years from now.”
The focus of the scientific sessions concentrated on three areas—vascular
inflammation, the genetics of PH, and new imaging techniques that may lead
us to new and more effective therapies. With each advance in the coming years
toward developing a cure, we can recall the 2006 PHA meeting, not only as
another touchstone toward finding more effective ways to manage the disease
but as a special event that strengthened the bonds between patients and
caregivers to build an even stronger PH community.
Profiles in Pulmonary Hypertension: Greg Elliott, MD, Exemplary
Physician on a Mission to Promote
Research Collaboration Between
Patients and Investigators (PDF)
When a physician receives two standing
ovations from a crowd of 1100
admirers, many of whom are his professional
peers, he surely deserves
the Outstanding Physician Award
presented at Pulmonary Hypertension
Association’s 7th International PH
Conference this year. As the Chair for
the Scientific Sessions Committee,
Greg Elliott, MD, earned this year’s
award for making a significant contribution in PH medicine
through a combination of the following: service to
PHA, conducting research, providing outstanding and
compassionate care to PH patients, and increasing
advocacy and awareness in the PH community.
Inflammation in Systemic Vascular
Disease: What Can We Learn?
Abundant research over the past decade has implicated
inflammation in several facets of systemic vascular disease.
Initially, these data focused on early atherogenesis as well as
the conversion of stable to unstable vascular lesions (ie, atherosclerotic
plaque rupture). It is now clear that inflammation
plays a major role in the risk of myocardial infarction
and stroke. It also plays a role in the prognosis of patients
with heart failure. The clinical expression of these observations
has been the adoption of high sensitivity C-reactive
protein (hsCRP) as a clinical marker for the risk of cardiovascular
disease.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging in
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
During the last few years, magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) has emerged as a modality with enormous potential
for the noninvasive evaluation of pulmonary hypertension
(PH). It does not involve ionizing radiation or nephrotoxic
contrast agents (unlike computed tomography or nuclear
techniques) and does not have imaging window limitations
(as is the case with echocardiography). These MRI techniques
are being applied to assessment of the vascular
structure as well as the myocardium.
Award-Winning Abstracts Focus on Diagnostic Criteria,
Impact of Calcium Channel Blockers (PDF)
1. Diagnostic Criteria for Idiopathic
Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (IPAH)
Do Not Reflect Patients Treated for IPAH at
a Referral Pulmonary Hypertension (PH)
Clinic
2. Calcium Channel Blockers Impair Right
Atrial Contractility and Cardiac Output in
Non-Responders with Chronic Pulmonary
Hypertension
Genes and Pulmonary Hypertension: Update 2006 (PDF)
New insights into the genetic features of pulmonary hypertension
(PH) have been identified in the past year. This
review summarizes what we think we know as of the summer
of 2006 regarding genetics and PH. A glossary of
important terminology in understanding genetics is also
included.
Inflammation in Pulmonary Hypertension:
How Immunobiology Provides the Missing Link
Between These Conditions (PDF)
There is an increasing appreciation of inflammation in clinical
pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). While the controversy
remains as to how inflammation may contribute to
the pathogenesis of this disease, new avenues of research
into this frequently fatal condition are opening as the
immune system is being more carefully considered. A variety
of diverse inflammatory diseases ranging from viral infections
to connective tissue disorders can culminate in pulmonary
vascular pathology that is indistinguishable. This
review discusses some of the immunobiology that may unite
these seemingly unrelated conditions.
A Stepwise and Practical Approach to Optimizing
Echocardiography in Pulmonary Hypertension (PDF)
Echocardiography is noninvasive and has high sensitivity
and specificity for diagnosing pulmonary hypertension (PH).
It allows the assessment of right and left valve integrity and
hemodynamic parameters. In patients with suspected or
known PH, echocardiography can delineate left ventricular
(LV) systolic and diastolic dysfunction, and detect congenital
heart defects or valvular heart disease. Whereas the
echocardiographic assessment of LV function is well established,
internationally standardized methods to quantitate
right ventricular (RV) function are less well known and reproducible.
This is due to the complex, crescentic nature of RV
geometry. This article summarizes a practical approach
using echocardiography for evaluating patients with PH.
Recapping Highlights from the 2006 PHA Scientific Sessions
Reviewing New Perspectives on Inflammation, Genetics,
and Imaging
Redefining Exercise-Induced PH
Future Considerations in Translational Research
Notes
Editorial Advisory
Board
Editor-in-Chief Ronald J. Oudiz, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
UCLA School of Medicine
Director, Liu Center for Pulmonary Hypertension
Division of Cardiology
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Torrance, California
Immediate Past Editor Vallerie V. McLaughlin, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program
University of Michigan Health System
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Editor-in-Chief Elect Richard Channick, MD
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Pulmonary and Critical Care Division
University of California, San Diego Medical Center
San Diego, California
Associate Editors Erika Berman Rosenzweig, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Department of Pediatrics
Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons
New York, New York
Robert Frantz, MD
Consultant in Cardiovascular
Diseases and Internal Medicine
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Rochester, Minnesota
Srinivas Murali, MD, FACC
Professor of Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine
Director, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine
Medical Director, Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute
Allegheny General Hospital
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Publisher
Pulmonary Hypertension Association
Jack Stibbs, Board Chair
Rino Aldrighetti, President
Donica Merhazion, Medical Services Associate Director
Publishing Staff
Stu Chapman, Executive Editor
Susan Chapman, Managing Editor
Heidi Green, Associate Editor
Gloria Catalano, Production Director
Michael McClain, Design Director
Editorial Offices
Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension
DataMedica
424 Dune Road Westhampton Beach, NY 11978
Tel: 631-288-7733
Fax: 631- 288-7744
Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension is circulated to
cardiologists, pulmonologists, rheumatologists and other selected
physicians by the Pulmonary Hypertension
Association
. The contents of the
articles are
independently determined ly the Editor
and the Editorial Advisory
Board.
Editorial Mission Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension is committed
to help physicians in their clinical decision
making by informing them of important
trends affecting their practice. Analyzing the
impact of new findings and covering current
information in the peer-reviewed literature,
Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension is published
four times a year. Advances in Pulmonary
Hypertension is the official journal
of the Pulmonary Hypertension Association.
Each article in this journal has been reviewed
and approved by members of the Editorial
Advisory Board.
Editorial Board
Todd Bull, MD
Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Denver, Colorado
Murali Chakinala, MD
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic
Washington University School of Medicine
St. Louis, Missouri
Kristin Highland, MD
Assistant Professor
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Jim Maloney, MD
Associate Professor of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Denver, Colorado
Ioana Preston, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Tufts - New England Medical Center
Boston, Massachusetts
Zeenat Safdar, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Department of Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care Section
Pulmonary Hypertension Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas
Rajan Saggar, MD
Assistant Professor
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
Medicine and Hospitalists
David Geffen School of Medicine
UCLA
Los Angeles, California
Robert Schilz, DO, PhD
Medical Director of Lung
Transplantation and Pulmonary Vascular Disease
University Hospital of Cleveland
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio
Francisco Soto, MD, MS
Assistant Professor
Director, Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Roxana Sulica, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Director, Beth Israel Pulmonary Hypertension Program
Beth Israel Medical Center
New York, New York
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information provided on the PHA website is provided for general information
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advice, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for consultations
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needs.
“Roadmap to a cure” sounds like a great theme for a medical
conference but clinicians involved with pulmonary hypertension
(PH) may view the title with more than a little skepticism
because we all know how much work lies ahead before a cure
can truly be achieved. The roadmap is actually elusive and the
path has many pitfalls. Nevertheless, if the organizers of this
year’s Seventh International Pulmonary Hypertension Conference
and Scientific Sessions reached a bit too far with their title for what is actually
not yet within our grasp, they also created Scientific Sessions filled with so
much promise and hope that perhaps all attendees came away sensing that,
indeed, we are not far from creating the roadmap to a cure. At least the
sessions gave us another touchstone, a reference point and glimpse of signs
guiding us in this direction.
