Pulmonary artery hypertension is a disease of the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs. This hypertension simply means that there is a constant state of high blood pressure in the lung vessels. This is not common but it affects people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Also, it can also occur on its own or it can be related to other causes.

We all know that hypertension occurs when most of the very small arteries throughout the lungs narrow in diameter and this increases the resistance to blood flow through the lungs. In order to overcome this, pressure increases in the pulmonary artery and in the heart chamber that pumps blood into the pulmonary artery or the right ventricle.

Pulmonary artery hypertension is a very difficult disease to acquire and it’s also a cause of alarm because there is really no cure for this. Since the disease is very rare, not everyone is familiar with it until they are diagnosed. The symptoms of this includes, shortness of breath and fainting spells. These are very common symptoms and sometimes, people mistake it as a different disease.

It is also noted that pulmonary artery hypertension can also be acquired through genetics. Mutations in the BMPR2 gene cause pulmonary arterial hypertension. This particular gene plays a role when it comes to the regulation of cells in certain tissues. A lot of researchers have suggested that a mutation in this gene can promote cell division or prevent cells death which will then result in an overgrowth of cells in small arteries throughout the lungs.

The increase in hospitalizations with pulmonary artery hypertension increases the death rates for women, African-Americans and the elderly with pulmonary hypertension during the past two decades and this has reflected an increase in physician awareness of the disease rather than a growing epidemic of pulmonary hypertension.