Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but potentially fatal complication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It may occur in HIV-1 or 2 infection, irrespective of the route of transmission or the degree of immunosuppression. The improved survival of patients infected with HIV in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) justifies systematic screening for PAH according to an algorithm in patients with unexplained dyspnea. In all cases, right heart catheterization must be performed to establish the definitive diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension. The prevalence of PAH is about 0.5% in patients with HIV infection. A beneficial effect of HAART on the course of HIV-related PAH has not been clearly established. In contrast, PAH-specific therapies such as epoprostenol and bosentan have been demonstrated to be efficacious for short- and long-term outcomes in this context. Notably, some patients pulmonary hemodynamics and functional class normalized or near normalized with these treatments. Other PAH-specific therapies remain to be evaluated. The advent of HAART associated with the development of PAH-specific therapies has improved the prognosis of patients HIV-related PAH, with a survival rate of about 70% at 3 years.
Copyright © 2012 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.