PH Awareness Month
As many APAPP Members already know, November is Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month. The Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) has deemed this year’s theme as ‘Live PHearlessly,’ to showcase empowering and inspiring stories but also to provide helpful resources to providers and patients.
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive lung disease in which patients experience high blood pressure in the lungs. PH is an elevation in the pressure in the arteries of the lungs. Many diseases such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), lung diseases, diastolic heart failure, and diseases of the left heart can cause the pressures in the pulmonary arteries to rise, but this does not mean a patient has pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a specific subgroup of PH. PAH is a disease of the blood vessels of the lungs, meaning these vessels have changed, causing the elevation in pressure. In pulmonary hypertension, the elevation of the pressures is caused by another disease; the blood vessels themselves are not the problem.
In honor of Pulmonary Hypertension Awareness Month, APAPP recently interviewed the ‘Queen of all things PH’ Martha Kingman, NP from UTSW PH Clinic on our podcast. In this episode, Martha shares what’s new in PH in 2023, reviews her insights on managing PAH patients, and gives us a peek of what’s to come.
APAPP is also excited to host a live FREE PAH Lecture with Simply Speaking on Saturday, November 18th at 8 AM MT. You are invited to learn about Clinical Cases in PAH II: Pregnant and Pediatric Patients with educator Sonja Bartolome, MD. Dr. Bartolome is Professor in UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Department of Internal Medicine. She specializes in pulmonary hypertension and chronic thromboembolism and is the Medical Director of the Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension Program.
You can register for free at www.SimplySpeakingCME.com/PAH. Click on ‘Attendee Registration’ then enter the activity code ‘PAH03231610.’ We hope you can join us.
RESOURCES FOR YOUR PATIENTS:
- How is PH Diagnosed Video
- What happens when you have PH Video
- How is PH Treated? Video
- PH Fact Sheet 2023
