n. a prostaglandin drug (see prostacyclin) used immediately before and during renal dialysis to prevent clotting of blood in the shunt and also to treat primary *pulmonary hypertension. Side-effects include flushing, headache, and hypotension.
a condition in which there is raised blood pressure within the blood vessels supplying the lungs (the pulmonary artery blood pressure is normally much lower than the pressure within the aorta and its branches). Pulmonary hypertension may complicate pulmonary embolism, *septal defects, heart failure, diseases of the mitral valve, and chronic lung diseases. It may also develop without any known cause (primary pulmonary hypertension). The right ventricle enlarges and heart failure, fainting, and chest pain occur. The treatment is that of the cause; drugs used to control *hypertension are ineffective, but some specific drug treatments (e.g. epoprostenol) have recently become available.... pulmonary hypertension
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