Pulmonary hypertension historical perspective

Pulmonary hypertension was first described by Ernst von Romberg, a German physician, in 1891.

• Pulmonary hypertension was first described by Ernst von Romberg, a German physician, in 1891.
• In 1929, Werner Forssman demonstrated that it was possible to perform right-sided catheterization in humans by performing catheterization on himself.
• In 1951, Dresdale coined the term primary pulmonary hypertension after describing series of cases of this new pathology. He also investigated the effects of tolzoline in a woman with pulmonary arterial hypertension causing a sudden reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance.
• In the late 1960s, there was an epidemic of pulmonary arterial hypertension induced by aminorex, which sparked interest in the disease.
• Pulmonary hypertension was first classified into primary and secondary in 1973 during the World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on PH in Geneva, Switzerland.
• Bosentan was approved to treat pulmonary hypertension in 2001, and sildenafil was approved in 2005.^[1]