Symptoms of pulmonary arterial hypertension may begin slowly, and even before they appear, extensive damage has caused the obstruction of small arteries leading to increased blood pressure in the lungs.
Most notably, shortness of breath become severe enough for someone with PAH to seek care and obtain a definitive diagnosis, the patient's chances of survival at five years are slightly better than 50 per cent on currently available treatments.
Paul B Yu, MD, PhD, a cardiovascular medicine specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, has been studying PAH for more than 15 years to better understand the fundamental process in which blood vessels in the lungs are lost to the disease.