The PHINDER trial is a real-time, collaborative study across many medical centers to improve non-invasive methods of screening for pulmonary hypertension, or PH (dangerously high blood pressure in the lungs), that affects patients with chronic lung scarring disease. The preliminary analysis took data from an initial group of 190 enrolled patients with interstitial lung disease, and researchers were able to isolate reliable warning signs to distinguish patients who were at risk of PH. Ultimately, 55% of these patients were found to have PH as a hidden condition without previously realizing it, and those who required supplemental oxygen at rest were three times as likely to be diagnosed, as well. Other routine markers (such as standard lung diffusion tests, chest imaging, and heart ultrasounds) were also found to be successful risk indicators. Most crucially, the data signified that a doctor’s intuition and clinical guesswork alone was only 60% accurate, when compared to direct diagnostic methods like right heart catheterization, confirming a vital need for such objective screening tools to catch PH early and accurately.
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