Pulmonary Hypertension in Children with Cancer

Abstract

Background: The advances in medicine have led to improved survival rates for children diagnosed with cancer. Despite these improvements, late mortality rates for cancer survivors exceed those of the general population. Leading causes of death in this population include subsequent cancer, followed by pulmonary and cardiovascular events.

Pulmonary Hypertension as a Complication of Pediatric Cancer

“…Long-term consequences of pediatric cancer are well documented and show a higher tendency to involve cancer reoccurrence, cardiovascular, and pulmonary sequela. 2 Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a cardiovascular complication that has been associated with cancer especially during the treatment phase in adult 3 and pediatric 4,5 patients with an estimated prevalence in 1 adult study of 15.4% 6 but the prevalence in pediatric cancer is not known. This review article will discuss the classification, pathophysiology and evaluation of PH in pediatric cancer which is needed to guide PH treatment in this population.…”