The Scotttish Pulmonary Vascular Unit was established in 1999 with funding from the National Services Division of Scotland. The unit aims to provide evaluation, investigation and initiation of treatment for all patients with severe pulmonary hypertension in Scotland..

Pulmonary hypertension is more common than previously recognised and new treatments have led to an improved prognosis. There are a variety of options for treatment including high dose calcium channel blockers, endothelin antagonists (bosentan, sitaxsentan, ambrisentan), PDE-5 inhibitors (sildenafil, tadalafil) and nebulised, subcutaneous and intravenous prostaglandin analogues. Clinical trials of new agents are ongoing.

Specialist supervision of all patients with pulmonary hypertension remains necessary: treatment is increasingly complex and expensive and requires careful ongoing scrutiny.