(Philadelphia, PA) – A novel screening approach developed by physicians at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University shows significant promise for improving the detection of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)—a life-threatening form of heart failure related to high blood pressure in the lung circulation that is often overlooked due to vague symptoms such as fatigue and shortness of breath.
The new research, published online April 5 in the American Heart Journal , shows that the virtual echocardiography screening tool (VEST), when incorporated into the electronic medical record (EMR) system, can generate accurate PAH risk scores—without the need for time-consuming manual calculations. The approach is the first of its kind in the field of pulmonary vascular medicine.
"Our EMR-based VEST tool proved highly accurate in identifying individuals likely to have PAH," said Anjali Vaidya, MD, FACC, FASE, FACP, Co-Director of the Advanced Pulmonary Hypertension, Right Heart Failure & Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) Program at Temple University Hospital; Professor of Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine and lead author on the new study. According to Dr. Vaidya, the novel technology could be game-changing for heart failure and pulmonary vascular care. By embedding a simple but powerful screening tool into everyday hospital workflows, PAH can be caught earlier, when treatment has the greatest chance of success.
