Pulmonary hypertension
Although the terms primary pulmonary hypertension (meaning of unknown cause) and secondary pulmonary hypertension (meaning due to another medical condition) still persist in materials disseminated to patients and the general public, these terms have largely been abandoned in the medical literature. This change has occurred because the older dichotomous classification did not reflect pathophysiology or outcome. It led to erroneous therapeutic decisions, i.e. treat "primary" pulmonary hypertension only. This in turn led to therapeutic nihilism for many patients labeled "secondary" pulmonary hypertension, and could have contributed to their deaths. The term "primary pulmonary hypertension" has now been replaced with "idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension". The terms "primary" and "secondary" pulmonary hypertension should not be used any longer. Further details are in the Classification section below.