TY - JOUR T1 - Pulmonary arterial hypertension and the state of limbo JF - European Respiratory Review JO - EUROPEAN RESPIRATORY REVIEW SP - 264 LP - 265 DO - 10.1183/09059180.00009510 VL - 19 IS - 118 AU - S.P. Gaine AU - M. Humbert Y1 - 2010/12/01 UR - http://err.ersjournals.com/content/19/118/264.abstract N2 - The concept of limbo will be familiar to Catholic Christians. Traditionally, limbo was seen as place for the souls of infants dying before they had a chance to be baptised. It was a resting place that was neither heaven nor hell (fig. 1) [1]. The concept of a place that is neither heaven nor hell is also familiar to patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Prior to the discovery of new therapeutics for PAH, patients had an untreated life expectancy of <3 yrs and were considered to reside in the “kingdom of the near dead” [2–4]. Nevertheless, despite substantial progress in our understanding of PAH and with new therapeutics, the current prognosis remains some distance from “heaven”. While the majority of patients present with World Health Organization (WHO) functional class III symptoms, less than half will experience an improvement in functional class on a single oral agent and will, therefore, remain significantly disabled [5]. … ER -