Targeted Drug Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension According to the New Guidelines

This article presents the options and basis of treatment decisions of targeted pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment. Medication treatment has substantially improved within the last years and provides patients with benefits in physical exercise capacity, quality of life and long-term prognosis. The new ESC/ERS guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension include updated evidence from newly published studies. Treatment recommendations and the therapeutic algorithm have been updated based on the current literature. In the following article medication treatment will be summarised according to the new recommendations.After diagnosis, disease severity is estimated by the use of a three-stage risk-model, which founded the basis for therapeutic recommendations. A newly introduced four-stage model will allow risk estimation and therapeutic adjustment during follow-up. The new guidelines also include recommendations for PAH patients with comorbidities.