Progressive pulmonary hypertension in a patient with type 1 Gaucher disease

Abstract

Gaucher disease is the most common form of hereditary enzymopathies combined into a group of lysosomal storage diseases. The basis for the disease is a hereditary deficiency of the activity of acid β-glucosidase, a lysosomal enzyme involved in the catabolism of lipids, which results in the accumulation of nonutilized cellular metabolism products in the macrophage lysosomes. The main clinical manifestations of type 1 Gaucher disease are cytopenia, hepatomegaly, and splenomegaly, and bone lesion. One of the atypical clinical manifestations of Gaucher disease is damage to the lungs with the development of pulmonary hypertension, which is usually considered within the underlying disease — the development of pneumosclerosis due to macrophage dysfunction. The paper describes a case of progressive pulmonary hypertension in a patient with type 1 Gaucher disease.

Keywords

• gaucher disease
• pulmonary hypertension
• ventricular septal defect
• eisenmenger’s syndrome