Pulmonary hypertension and HIV

March 2002     View PDF     En español

People living with HIV have long had enough to worry about from the most common opportunistic infections and HIV-related conditions. There are, however, a number of less well-known illnesses for which HIV is considered a risk factor. When people afflicted with these conditions turn to general sources of HIV information, they often find little or no recognition of the connection with HIV. Consequently, they often feel isolated and alone in facing their new problem and can’t get much help from their usual support mechanisms.

One such illness that recently came to Project Inform’s attention in a dramatic and personal way is called PH, short for Pulmonary Hypertension. Though hypertension (high blood pressure throughout the circulatory system) is a common illness, PH is a relatively rare condition. It is distinguished by high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, the main blood vessel that carries blood from the right ventricle (chamber) of the heart to the lungs. It is typically a progressive disease that ends in death if untreated.

The general cause of this increased blood pressure is a thickening or constriction of the pulmonary artery and the smaller blood vessels in the lungs that branch out from it. In a person with pulmonary hypertension, the branches begin to close off as the blood vessels thicken, starting with the smallest vessels first. As more and more branches close down, the lungs produce less oxygenated blood and the body becomes starved for oxygen. This causes the right ventricle of the heart to work furiously, trying to force more blood through the lungs to get more oxygen to the body. It is not designed for such high pressure work and the muscle soon stretches and eventually leads to congestive right heart failure, a type of heart of attack and potential cause of death.

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