Novel blood test helps evaluate severity in rare lung disease: U.S. researchers

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that a novel blood test can be used to easily evaluate disease severity in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare lung disease, and predict survivability, the agency said on Thursday.

PAH is a rare, life-threatening condition that causes unexplained high blood pressure in the lungs. In early clinical studies, the researchers showed the test to significantly improve upon conventional tests, some of which use invasive tools, according to the NIH.