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2. COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Quiz
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Medical Author:

George Schiffman, MD, FCCP

George Schiffman, MD, FCCP

Dr. Schiffman received his B.S. degree with High Honors in biology from Hobart College in 1976. He then moved to Chicago where he studied biochemistry at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. He attended Rush Medical College where he received his M.D. degree in 1982 and was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He completed his Internal Medicine internship and residency at the University of California, Irvine.

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Medical Author:

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Dr. Nabili received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. He then completed his graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His graduate training included a specialized fellowship in public health where his research focused on environmental health and health-care delivery and management.

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Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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In this Article

• What are pulmonary arteries?
• What is pulmonary hypertension?
• What are primary and secondary pulmonary hypertension?
• What causes pulmonary hypertension?
• What causes primary pulmonary hypertension?
• How common is pulmonary hypertension?
• What are the signs and symptoms of pulmonary hypertension?
• How is pulmonary hypertension diagnosed?
• What is the treatment for pulmonary hypertension?
• What is the life expectancy for pulmonary hypertension?
• Patient Comments: Pulmonary Hypertension - Share Your Experience
• Patient Comments: Pulmonary Hypertension - Treatments
• Patient Comments: Pulmonary Hypertension - Symptoms
• Find a local Cardiologist in your town
• Pulmonary Hypertension Index

Many people with pulmonary hypertension may have no symptoms at all, especially if the disease is mild or in the early stages.

Pulmonary hypertension symptoms may include:

• Shortness of breath that worsens with activity
  
  
• Other common complaints are cough, fatigue, dizziness, and lethargy.
  
  
• With the advancement of the condition and ensuing right heart failure, shortness of breath may become worse and retention of fluid in the body may increase (due to failure of the heart to pump blood forward) resulting in swelling the legs.
  
  
• People may also complain of chest pain and angina.
• Depending on the underlying associated disease, pulmonary artery hypertension can have other manifestations. For example, characteristic skin changes seen in scleroderma, or the signs of liver disease seen in portopulmonary hypertension.

Signs of pulmonary hypertension may include:

• Rapid breathing, hypoxia (low oxygen level in the blood), and swelling in the legs.
  
  
• In severe pulmonary hypertension, the health care practitioner may hear louder than normal components of heart sounds when he or she listens to the heart with a stethoscope (auscultation).
  
  
• The doctor may also feel elevation of the chest wall when the heart pumps and this may indicate enlargement of the right side of the heart suggestive of pulmonary hypertension (right ventricular heave).