Novel techniques for advancing our understanding of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Differentiating pulmonary hypertension associated with protein kinase inhibitors

Protein kinase inhibitors (PKIs) have been implicated in pulmonary vascular toxicities including risk factors for at least three of the five World Health Organization groups of pulmonary hypertension (PH). These toxicities include direct drug-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension, an increase in cardiomyopathies, and an increase in interstitial lung disease. On- and off-target toxicities are common within multitargeted PKIs leading to cardiopulmonary toxicities. This review highlights the incidence, possible mechanisms, and management strategies for each group of possible PKI-induced PH. Future identification and clarification of protein kinase pathways for both mechanisms of toxicity and pathophysiology for PH could lead to improvements in patient care in oncology and pulmonary vascular diseases.

Pulmonary hypertension in paediatrics. A feasible approach to bridge the gap between real world and guidelines

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is quite infrequent in paediatric age and its most common aetiologies include idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, PH related to congenital heart diseases, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (chronic lung disease), persistence of pulmonary hypertension of the newborn, and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The developed for adult patients PH classification shows limitations when applied to paediatric subjects, since the underlying causes are markedly different between the two ages. In 2011, the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute Panama Task Force outlined the first specific paediatric pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease diagnostic classification, including 10 main categories and 109 subcategories, thus testifying PH complex pathophysiology during newborns/children growth and development. The unique, distinctive features of paediatric PH were recognized also during the fifth World Symposium on Pulmonary hypertension in 2013 and then confirmed in the recent 2018 sixth World Symposium. For the sake of uniformity, an attempt to adapt the adult classification to paediatric patients was made. However, all these commendable classifications are very complex and may be not of quick comprehension for clinicians. A clinical simpler and simplified method is now suggested, comprising only five groups: Neonatal, Cardiac, Developmental, Idiopathic, and Syndromic PH. This approach is not aimed at replacing the already existing classifications, but is mainly based on the kind of specialized physician (neonatologist, paediatric cardiologist, paediatrician, pulmonologist, general practitioner) who first faces and looks after the child with suspected PH. What is dramatically known is that paediatric PH is a severe disease which, when untreated or undertreated, may lead to increased morbidity and mortality.