The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and European Respiratory Society (ERS) guidelines published in 2015 include the most important recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension (PH). The classification of PH into five groups remained unchanged as compared to the previous recommendations; however, there are minor shifts within the groups. Accordingly, a distinction is made between pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), PH due to left heart disease, PH due to chronic hypoxia or lung disease, chronic thromboembolic PH and PH due to unclear or multifactorial mechanisms. The diagnosis of PH is based on right heart catheterization where PH is defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure ≥ 25 mmHg at rest. For the definition of PAH, in addition to a pulmonary capillary wedge pressure ≤ 15 mmHg, a pulmonary vascular resistance > 3 Wood units is obligatory. Echocardiography is considered to be the most important non-invasive procedure within the diagnostic algorithm and for patients with collagen vascular disease. This is recommended during initial diagnostic work-up and should be followed-up annually. Several novel drugs which were approved since publication of the previous guidelines, were included in the new recommendations. For the first time there is a recommendation for a targeted drug for inoperable chronic thromboembolic PH. An important part of the guidelines is the discussion on PAH upfront combination therapy.
Keywords: Combination drug therapy; Diagnosis; Echocardiography; Guideline; Pulmonary hypertension.