Pulmonary Hypertension | Tara’s Story

It’s been 10 years since Tara passed out at the top of the stairs at work—the point when she found out she had pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension is a type of pulmonary vascular disease, typically caused by common conditions like congestive heart failure (CHF) and emphysema. It can cause high blood pressure in the lungs and damage to the heart, as well as trigger severe breathlessness. Tara started seeing a doctor at a hospital in Newark, and they told her that her best option was to wait for a lung transplant; however, they refused to perform the surgery there because they didn’t have enough experience. Instead, she turned to Penn Medicine, which has performed more than double the amount of lung transplants than any other center in the region. “Penn Medicine’s survival rates for pulmonary hypertension are really great,“ Tara said. She became very close with her care team, namely her pulmonologist, Dr. Kerri Smith. Instead of waiting for a transplant, Dr. Smith decided to start her on a new drug that was just coming to market. And it worked - soon Tara was completely off painkillers and oxygen. A month later, she was taken off the transplant list. Today, Tara is doing great. She’s back to work and doing the things she loves. Learn more about pulmonary hypertension: Connect with Kerri Akaya Smith, MD, medical director of Penn Medicine’s Pulmonary Hypertension Program: Request an appointment: #PulmonaryHypertension #PennMedicine