Infection in pulmonary vascular diseases: Would another consortium really be the way to go?

Abstract

[first paragraph of article]

There has been a clear engagement by the medical community with pulmonary hypertension after the approval of targeted therapies and the introduction of more therapeutic modalities in the last 18 years. The increasing number of scientific sessions and conferences was inevitable. Major initial interest was from the developed countries, which concentrated on prevalent etiologies: primary (later called idiopathic) pulmonary arterial hyposecretion and secondary to connective tissue disorders currently both classified as Class I. Unfortunately, a lesser consideration was given to other causes of pulmonary hypertension such as secondary to left heart failure (Class II) or hypoxic pulmonary disease (Class III). This is presumably due to both the complexity and the multifactorial etiologies of these causes and the lack of availability of targeted therapies.