Early Diagnosis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: A Plea for Help.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a devastating, progressive, and fatal disease. When diagnosed, evaluated, and treated early, patients can expect important decreases in disease progression, improvement in quality of life, and improvement in survival rates. Sadly, the disorder is often allowed to progress to New York Heart Association Functional Class or WHO functional class III or IV status before practitioners on the front lines think of the diagnosis or refer to a pulmonary hypertension center. This is a plea to all licensed care providers for more expedient evaluation and treatment of these unfortunate patients.