St. Luke’s Heart & Vascular Center has opened the Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) Program, whose mission is to provide patients with expert and personal diagnosis, treatment, education and support for this serious medical condition involving the heart and lungs.
Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive, lifechanging illness in which the heart strains to pump blood to the lungs through narrowed or blocked arteries, causing arterial blood pressure to rise abnormally. An estimated 25 million persons world-wide are living with pulmonary hypertension. If not treated early and accurately, this condition can worsen and cause the right side of the heart to work harder, become oversized and weakened and eventually to develop heart failure.
In many cases, the cause of PH is idiopathic (unknown), though conditions like congenital heart disease, connective tissue disease, blood clots in the lungs, chronic lung disease, drug use and liver disease are also known to trigger pulmonary hypertension. Symptoms of the disorder include shortness of breath, fatigue, chest pain, swollen ankles, lightheadedness and fainting.
Located in Bethlehem, St. Luke’s Pulmonary Hypertension Program comprises an experienced, expert team of PH and board-certified heart failure specialists, nurses and nurse practitioners in the Northeast United States.
The team collaborates with, and refers to, pulmonologists and other medical providers and programs, as necessary, to address issues that may arise during a patient’s PH journey.
The Pulmonary Hypertension Program Office is located at 1469 Eighth Ave., Bethlehem. Its phone number is 484-526-7800.
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