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Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffPulmonary hypertension can lead to a number of complications, including:
- Right-sided heart failure (cor pulmonale). In this condition, your heart's right ventricle becomes enlarged and has to pump harder than usual to move blood through narrowed or blocked pulmonary arteries. Initially, the heart tries to compensate by thickening its walls and expanding the chamber of the right ventricle to increase the amount of blood it can hold. But this measure works only temporarily, and eventually the right ventricle fails from the extra strain.
- Blood clots. Clots are the end result of a complex process that helps stop bleeding after you've been injured. But sometimes clots form where they're not needed. A number of small clots or just a few large ones can lead to pulmonary hypertension, which is reversible with time and treatment. Having pulmonary hypertension makes it more likely you'll develop clots in the small arteries in your lungs, which is dangerous if you have narrowed or blocked blood vessels.
- Arrhythmia. Irregular heartbeats from the upper or lower chambers of the heart are complications of pulmonary hypertension. These can lead to palpitations, dizziness or fainting and can be fatal.
- Bleeding. Pulmonary hypertension can lead to bleeding into the lungs and coughing up blood (hemoptysis). This is another potentially fatal complication.
