Update on Pulmonary Hypertension 2009

This article reviews selected studies published in 2009 covering advances in the pulmonary hypertension field. Material covered includes the recent changes in the classification of pulmonary hypertension and the completion of new phase III clinical trials of combination therapy, as well as new studies on the epidemiology, clinical course, and advances in the diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. We conclude with a survey of studies examining new basic mechanisms of disease and novel therapeutic agents. This summary is necessarily limited and we encourage the reader to obtain the primary manuscripts and related work to examine in more detail. The year 2009 saw remarkable advances to the pulmonary hypertension field. These studies reported on new basic mechanisms of disease, advances in diagnostics, the discovery of novel therapeutic agents, and the completion of new phase III clinical trials. A PubMed search using the term “pulmonary hypertension” and restricted to the year 2009 yields an astounding 963 new publications. Although this current review is not intended to cover all publications in this rapidly growing field, we will highlight recent changes in the classification and updates on major clinical trial results and review important advances in diagnostic studies and basic science mechanisms.