Heart Failure Seminar: Focus on Pulmonary Hypertension and Right Ventricular Heart Failure

This activity is intended for trainees, fellows, physicians, APPs, nurses, pharmacists and pharmacologists who care for patients with heart failure.

At the conclusion of this activity, learners will be better able to:

Part 1 - Epidemiology, Diagnosis, and Risk Stratification of PAH (Tom Cascino, MD) 

1. Review the clinical and hemodynamic classifications of PH with a focus on the epidemiology 
2. Apply a systematic diagnostic approach to evaluating dyspnea and suspected PH 
3. Understand the practical application of risk stratification in PAH, including its limitations

Part 2 - Pharmacotherapy for PAH including the new kid on the block (Kevin Kissling, PharmD) 

1. Apply current treatment algorithms to select initial pharmacotherapy regimens and guide adjustment according to response 
2. Examine implementation of the activin signaling inhibitor sotatercept as the fourth treatment pathway in pulmonary hypertension 

Part 3 - Pulmonary Hypertension in Left Heart Disease-what do we know and where are we headed? (Ashley Hardin, MD) 

1. Understand the definition and classification of group 2 PH 
2. Acknowledge the shift toward disaggregating underlying etiologies of group 2 PH and staging PH due to left heart disease 
3. Discuss recommendations for the treatment of group 2 PH including the role of pulmonary vasodilators and provocative testing

Part 4 - Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension-diagnosis and management including surgical and percutaneous treatment options (Jennifer Ashby, NP)

1. Identify patients at risk for CTEPH based on clinical history, symptoms, and risk factors 
2. Recognize that CTEPH is a rare but potentially curable form of pulmonary hypertension arising from unresolved or recurrent pulmonary embolism 
3. Discuss the role of lifelong anticoagulation
4. Review surgical and interventional options for CTEPH and when to refer to a Comprehensive Center of Care