Task Force. Guidelines on diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The Task Force on Diagnosis and Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is defined as a group of diseases characterised by a progressive increase of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) leading to right ventricular failure and premature death.http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/24/2243.long . The present guidelines are intended to provide clear and concise indications for the practical use of the new clinical classification, and a brief description of the new pathological classification and of the recent pathogenetic insights. The diagnostic process will be discussed in order to propose a logical sequence of investigations for aetiology identification, disease assessment and follow-up. Special emphasis will be devoted to the evidence-based treatment algorithm that has been defined according to the ESC proposals for the Level of Evidence classification and the Grade of Recommendation16 for the available therapies.