In celebration of Pulmonary Hypertension Day, an Oxygen Festival will be held today at the Paula Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS), where residents will be able to check their heart and lung health for free, informs Ieva Plūme, chairman of the board of the Pulmonary Hypertension Society.
In order to inform the public about the recognition and diagnosis of a rare and dangerous disease – pulmonary arterial hypertension, as well as to promote the prevention of heart and lung health, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., express tests for determining cholesterol, glucose, hemoglobin, oxygen saturation and blood pressure will be available in the A building of the hospital measurements, bioimpedance weight test, physiotherapy lesson, as well as express consultations of cardiologist and pneumologist.
Anyone interested is invited to the event, participation is free. An important condition – examinations must be performed on an empty stomach.
Chief physician of PSKUS Center for Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery, pulmonologist Zaiga Kravale states that quick and accurate diagnosis is important for any disease. The oxygen festival is an opportunity to perform various tests at the same time, as well as to talk to a cardiologist and a pneumologist during a quick review visit.
She reminds that shortness of breath is not considered a norm at any age, so special attention will be paid to event attendees with shortness of breath of unknown origin, reduced oxygen content in the blood, as well as people who already have known diagnoses that could explain shortness of breath, but the treatment that has been started does not help.
“Our goal during the Oxygen Festival is to identify patients who need additional examinations and in-depth consultation, for example with a pulmonologist. If there are such patients, we will provide them with information about the possibilities of consultations and examinations at the Lung Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Center of Stradins Hospital or at the day hospital,” informs Kravale.
The initial signs of pulmonary hypertension are non-specific and resemble other heart and lung diseases. It is shortness of breath and shortness of breath during exercise, chronic fatigue, chest pain, palpitations, but as the disease progresses, more noticeable symptoms are added – fainting, bluish color of lips and nails and reduced exercise tolerance. Diagnosed late, the disease causes irreversible changes in the pulmonary arteries and heart with a very high mortality rate.
Cardiologist Andris Skride, head of the PSKUS Rare Disease Office, admits that the disease has many subtypes and each one has a different treatment method. In the case of thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, a new treatment method has been introduced – balloon pulmonary angioplasty, drug therapy is available for other forms of the disease. However, despite the available treatment, the disease often progresses and new treatments need to be developed.
“Latvia has become an important research center in the development of new medicines specifically in the field of pulmonary hypertension. Unfortunately, a very important method of treatment – lung transplantation – is currently not available in our country, so work must be continued to change this,” he says.
According to the data of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control, at the end of 2023, 232 patients with various rare types of pulmonary hypertension were registered in Latvia, including 118 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, 44 with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, 37 with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, with pulmonary hypertension in connection with congenital heart disease – 19 patients.
