UGR News. Researchers at the University of Granada (UGR) from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit and the Cardiology Service of the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio in Granada have developed an innovative system which will help doctors make the earliest diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension possible, which is the main cause of death for patients suffering from scleroderma, a rare disease which affects approximately 1,200 out of every million people. Until now, the only method to identify pulmonary hypertension was to perform a cardiac catheterization, an invasive technique consisting of the insertion of a hollow and flexible tube (a catheter) through the jugular vein directly into the right side of the heart. This technique is not advisable for all patients because of its complexity and risk.The new technique was developed by doctor Lourdes López Pérez, and directed by lecturers Norberto Ortego Centeno and José Luis Callejas Rubio, from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit of the Medicine Department, at the University of Granada.
