Pulmonary hypertension (PH) has been found to have significant morbidity and mortality. The treatment of PH has advanced considerably with increasingly more effective and safer options. With an increasing effort to diagnose patients early, non-invasive techniques are often used to screen those patients likely to have PH. Computerized tomography (CT) chest scans are increasingly utilized in the evaluation of patients with exertional dyspnea, including those with suspected PH. The main role of the CT scan is to evaluate for any associated underlying diseases. There have been attempts to address the utility of CT to predict the presence of PH. This article reviews previously published investigations to summarize the relationship between pulmonary artery dimensions and PH to determine both the strength of the correlation and its discriminatory ability for use in clinical practice.

To report the Mayo Clinic experience with COVID-19 related to patient outcomes. We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020 at any of the Mayo Clinic sites. We abstracted pertinent comorbidities such as age, gender, body mass index, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) variables, and treatments received. Factors associated with hospitalization and mortality were assessed in univariate and multivariate models. A total of 7,891 patients with confirmed COVID-19 with research authorization on file received care across the Mayo Clinic during the study period. Of these, 7217 patients were adults ≥ 18 years old which were analyzed further. 897 (11.3%) patients required hospitalization, and 354 (4.5%) patients received care in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). All hospitalized patients were reviewed by a COVID-19 Treatment Review Panel, and 77.5% of inpatients received a COVID-19 directed therapy. Overall mortality was 1.1%, with 7.1% mortality in hospitalized patients and 11.9% in patients requiring ICU care. Mayo Clinic outcomes of COVID-19 patients in the ICU, hospital and community compare favorably to those reported nationally. This likely reflects the impact of interprofessional multidisciplinary team evaluation, effective leveraging of clinical trials and available treatments, deployment of remote monitoring tools, and maintenance of adequate operating capacity to not require surge adjustments. These best practices can help guide other health care systems with the continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.