Could a dog's past heartworm disease cause pulmonary hypertension?

Question

I adopted my dog at 9 years old. He was heartworm +. He didn't respond well to the treatment so he only got 1 "session" then he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure & put on Fortekor & Furosemide. He then tested negative for HW. 5 years later he is now in Kidney failure. After having to go to Emerg we discovered he did NOT have CHF. But he was diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension. Could the HW have caused the PH or does that only happen when there is an active HW infestation? Pet's info: Dog | Chihuahua | Male | neutered | 14 years old | 5.4 lbs

Dr. Heidi DVM, CVA, CCRT, CVTP, CVSMT, CVCH · Accepted Answer

Heartworm disease commonly causes pulmonary hypertension. The worms actually live in the pulmonary artery and cause damage that can lead to pulmonary hypertension. The longer the worms live there, the more damage you get to the pulmonary artery. Since we don't know how long Memi had heartworms, it is certainly possible that they could have done enough damage to cause pulmonary hypertension. I am attaching a handout below that describes that a little more. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=591 The person that did her echocardiograph would likely be able to give you more information about if they suspect her pulmonary hypertension was due to her heartworm disease.

Could a dog's past heartworm disease cause pulmonary hypertension?

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