LAUSR

Purpose of ReviewTo highlight some clinical information and recent findings about pulmonary hypertension (PH) and use them as a resource to improve perioperative care in patients affected with this disease.Recent FindingsThe last PH Consensus was held in Nice (2013) and continues to classify PH in five major groups. Although transthoracic Doppler echocardiography is often used as a first screening tool, right heart catheterization is mandatory to accurately make the diagnosis. As the natural history of PH has been changed by modern drug therapies, with current median survival rate reaching up to 9 years in low-risk patients, it is likely that anesthesiologists will need to evaluate PH patients more often. Their perioperative management remains challenging, and patients should be preferentially cared for in specialized centers.SummaryAlthough the perioperative mortality of PH patients has significantly decreased over the years, morbidity remains high. Thus, a careful pre-operative evaluation and risk stratification by a multidisciplinary team is strongly encouraged as it may improve outcomes after surgery.