Sandeep Sahay, MD, FCCP

Panelists discuss how disease progression monitoring requires integrating multiple data points including symptoms, six-minute walk tests, biomarkers like BNP/NT-proBNP, and imaging studies, with risk stratification tools helping guide treatment decisions while considering individual patient characteristics.

Panelists discuss how early detection barriers include nonspecific symptoms like progressive dyspnea that are often misattributed to more common conditions, leading to delayed diagnosis and the need for improved diagnostic algorithms using biomarkers and imaging.

Panelists discuss how pulmonary arterial hypertension diagnosis requires comprehensive evaluation including right heart catheterization to confirm hemodynamic criteria, with normal mean PA pressure being ≤20 mmHg and the need to rule out other causes of pulmonary hypertension.

Panelists discuss how the pathophysiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension involves complex mechanisms across multiple genetic and treatment pathways, with over 20 identified genes and four major therapeutic targets including nitric oxide, endothelin, prostacyclin, and activin signaling inhibition.

Sandeep Sahay, MD, FCCP, director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program, Houston Methodist Hospital, previews key topics of this year's American Thoracic Society (ATS) conference.