The less common forms of pulmonary hypertension.

The circumstances in which pulmonary hypertension is found alone or in association with emphysema, mitral stenosis, or congenital cardiac shunts have been described already (Gilmour and Evans, 1946; Evans, 1951; Evans et al., 1957; Evans and Short, 1957 and 1958). This paper discusses pulmonary hypertension in relation to the less common clinical states that cause a rise in pulmonary arterial pressure: these include recurring pulmonary embolism, strangulation of pulmonary veins, myxoma of the left atrium, neoplasia, scleroderma, pneumoconiosis from anthracosis or asbestosis, and holo-hypertension. Should pulmonary hypertension supervene on these several states, the symptoms common to the hypertension are uppermost and are seldom modified by the associated condition. In all of them, however, signs are added which help to uncover the disease that has either caused the hypertension or favoured its development.