Presenting Highlights from Two Exceptional Meetings on Pulmonary Hypertension

Two exceptional meetings this year offered rare opportunities for clinicians involved with pulmonary arterial hypertension to evaluate the progress made in treating this disease. In each case, attendees not only reviewed the progress of recent clinical trials but also looked ahead toward what we can expect in the coming years.

Most of this issue is devoted to highlights from the Third World Symposium on Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, held from June 23 to 25 in Venice, Italy. This group has been the prime mover in developing criteria for the classification and diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension, and the meeting this year once again demonstrated why the various task forces assembled contribute so much to our understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease and recent advances in diagnosis and treatment.

I want to express my appreciation for the contributions to this issue of Advances in Pulmonary Hypertension from members of the task force committees who provided summaries from their respective sessions and to Nazzareno Galiè, MD, for enabling us to put together this information. The reports from the physicians convey essential information and highlight key issues discussed. They will give you a sense of the excitement we all shared in Venice as we worked toward a consensus on many topics. As assessment and treatment strategies branch in many directions, it is critical for working groups like this to consolidate our knowledge base and seek a consensus that serves as the basis for new guidelines.

The other meeting of major importance was held earlier under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland. The report and interview with the meeting's chairman, John H. Newman, MD, ranges far and wide over a broad spectrum of topics that will put you on the cutting edge of developments in our field, including priorities for future research.