Comment on the 2015 ESC/ERS guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a common phenomenon, which – independently from the underlying cause – is associated with a reduced life expectancy. Recently published landmark studies have led to substantial progress in the management of PH, particularly pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and provided the basis for the updated recommendations of the 2015 joint guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) on the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. The updated version includes important modifications with regards to hemodynamic definitions and the clinical classification of PH. Furthermore, the recommendations and algorithms for the diagnostic assessment of patients with suspected PH, risk stratification and treatment of PAH were profoundly modified, introducing novel drugs and the establishment of improved treatment strategies, such as combination therapy. Finally, the new ESC/ERS guidelines provide formal recommendations for the management of other forms of PH, such as PH due to left heart or chronic lung disease and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, and define criteria for specialized PH expert centres. This comment focusses on the most important changes compared to the previous version of the ESC/ERS guidelines published in 2009 and on the practical implementation of the new guidelines in Germany. © 2016, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie - Herz- und Kreislaufforschung e.V. Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg - all rights reserved.