Pulmonary Hypertension in Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis

The investigation serves the identification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) among patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP). The exact prevalence of PH in HP is unknown. Data from South America indicate that the prevalence of pre-capillary PH amongst patients with HP is higher than 20%. There are no reliable data from Europe so far. According to the investigators previous analysis, more than 400 HP patients have participated in pulmonary rehabilitation at least once in the past 10 years at Klinikum Bad Gleichenberg (Rehabilitation Center for Agricultural Workers in Austria). This collective of patients is to be invited to participate in the study.

A diagnostic algorithm will be applied in the clinical trial, in the case of clinical suspicion the diagnosis of PH will be confirmed by right heart catheterization. Besides the determination of the prevalence of PH in patients with HP the investigators aim to assess the reliability of non-invasive methods (e.g. Echocardiography, ECG...) to predict PH.