The most common complication is right-sided heart failure. Of those individuals who die, most do so within 1 year of diagnosis of PAH. This probably relates to the fact that most of these individuals present in the later stages of PAH. The Vincristine major limitation of the retrospective analysis of the case reports is defining patients

with PAH. Only a minority (27%) of patients were defined as having PAH based on RHC. There is a marked difference in the sPAP between echocardiography and RHC. There are several studies that suggest that the false positive rate of echocardiography is higher and the accuracy of echocardiography is lower compared with RHC [95–97]. As a result, some of the patients in the retrospective analysis of cases

of HIV-related PAH who had their PAH diagnosed based on echocardiography may not have had PAH, making the results less interpretable. Evidence for the specific treatment of HIV-related PAH is limited. There are no studies providing evidence of the use of diuretics, anticoagulation, phosphodiesterase V inhibitors and calcium channel blockers other than case reports. The evidence for the use of HAART, bosentan and prostaglandin therapies comes from cohort studies, case–control studies or case series. There have been no randomized www.selleckchem.com/JNK.html controlled studies with any of these agents reported to date. The reason for this is partly because most of these types of patients are excluded from clinical trials because of the chance that the various PAH therapies may interact with ARVs and because of the multiple comorbidities that HIV-infected patients have. In the study by Zuber et

al. [84], HAART was found to be beneficial in HIV-related PAH. It decreased mortality resulting from PAH and prevented a worsening of functional status compared with no ART or just NRTIs. There is controversy concerning how HAART decreases the severity of PAH and reduces mortality from PAH. HIV or its proteins have not been identified in the pulmonary vascular MRIP smooth muscle or endothelium in patients with PAH [24]. However, HIV infection induces a chronic inflammatory state and persisting immune activation [98]. It is plausible that HIV-infected macrophages release cytokines that eventually lead to enhanced endothelial proliferation, leucocyte adherence and growth factor secretion [16]. Several studies have shown high levels of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, endothelin-1 and platelet-derived growth factor in patients with PAH [99–101]. HAART down-regulates viral replication and decreases abnormal rates and/or types of T-cell activation [102]. It is possible that HAART may reduce the inflammatory response leading to PAH, similar to the way in which it reduces the inflammatory response induced by HIV. Furthermore, Marecki et al.