Life-threatening complications of pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a severe disease with a 1-year mortality of over 10%. Since it is a rare disease, it is usually managed in expert centres. However, life-threatening complications can occur at any moment and place and should be adequately taken care of to prevent avoidable deaths. Therefore, based on an analysis of the causes of death, this chapter describes the most important complications and their management: right heart failure, arrhythmias, haemoptysis, pericardial effusion, pulmonary arterial dilation with as a consequence left main coronary artery compression, and pulmonary artery dissection, as well as treatment-related adverse events.