Pulmonary vascular disease ORIGINAL ARTICLE Heart: first published as 10.1136/heartjnl-2015-309103 on 6 April 2016. Downloaded from Treatment of children with pulmonary hypertension. Expert consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric pulmonary hypertension. The European Paediatric Pulmonary Vascular Disease Network, endorsed by ISHLT and DGPK Georg Hansmann,1 Christian Apitz2 For numbered affiliations see ABSTRACT administration (oral, inhaled, subcutaneous and end of article. Treatment of children and adults with pulmonary intravenous). Additional drugs are expected in the Correspondence to hypertension (PH) with or without cardiac dysfunction near future. Modern drug therapy improves the Prof. Dr. Georg Hansmann, has improved in the last two decades. The so-called symptoms of PAH patients and slows down the FESC, FAHA, Department of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-specific rates of clinical deterioration. However, emerging Paediatric Cardiology and medications currently approved for therapy of adults with therapeutic strategies for adult PAH, such as Critical Care, Hannover PAH target three major pathways (endothelin, nitric upfront oral combination therapy, have not been Medical School, Carl-Neuberg- fi Str. 1, Hannover 30625, oxide, prostacyclin). Moreover, some PH centres may use suf ciently studied in children. Moreover, the com- Germany; off-label drugs for compassionate use. Pulmonary plexity of pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease
[email protected] hypertensive vascular disease (PHVD) in children is (PHVD) in children makes the selection of appro- complex, and selection of appropriate therapies remains priate therapies a great challenge far away from a This paper is a product of the fi writing group of the European dif cult. In addition, paediatric PAH/PHVD therapy is mere prescription of drugs.