A University of Alberta research team has found a genetic variant that can be used to identify which patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension need the most urgent care.
“This could potentially save lives and health-care costs, and improve the well-being of both patients and their loved ones,” says principal investigator Evangelos Michelakis, professor and associate chair of research for the Department of Medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) affects thousands of Canadians, according to the research team. PAH is caused by an overgrowth of cells in the wall of the lung arteries, leading to obstruction of blood flow and exhaustion of the right chambers of the heart as they struggle to pump blood through the lungs.
Fifty per cent of patients die within five years of diagnosis, a prognosis similar to metastatic breast cancer. While there are some drug treatments, they’re very expensive and do not necessarily prolong life or reverse the disease. Heart transplant is often the only effective intervention, but many patients deteriorate before they get a transplant.
Some patients with PAH develop heart failure much sooner than others, but until now the cause has been unknown.