 A cardiologist from the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Baxter Clinic is conducting research about pulmonary hypertension. Sarah Winkleman shares with us how study hopes to gain insights and improve the quality of life for patients. After working at the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation in the Baxter Clinic for a few years, Dr. Eric Fentz said he has seen nearly 150 patients with pulmonary hypertension. He saw all of these patients at this clinic with pulmonary hypertension and he's like, what is going on? And so he dug a little deeper, came up with how he could approach that question to get answers. But rarely does he see patients affected the same by the disease. Every patient seems to respond a little differently and their pulmonary hypertension is treated differently as such. And this research study is really designed to answer the question of why this happens and how one person's pulmonary hypertension is a little different than the next person's. Pulmonary hypertension is an elevated blood pressure in the lungs that comes from the right heart. Pulmonary hypertension is a big issue in this community and Dr. Eric Fentz said is going to do this research to help us better understand it, better treat, better identify. In order to check for pulmonary hypertension, patients lay on this bed to have pictures taken of their lungs to check for blood clots. I'm hoping that we can make a medical breakthrough with pulmonary hypertension and get to the root cause of this problem and hopefully unlock some of the mystery that has evaded us thus far. Very generous donors from the Brainerd area, Arnie and Joanne Johnson have donated $25,000 to get the research project started. The Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is there to see the research through all the way to the results. So the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation is a separate nonprofit organization that exists solely to support the research and education of the Minneapolis Heart Institute physicians. By October, Dr. Fentz said we'll start the collection of blood samples from those with pulmonary hypertension. Once 50 to 100 samples have been taken, the analysis process will begin. Reporting in Baxter, Sarah Winckelman, Bakland News. Once the materials have been gathered, the analysis should take around one year to complete. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.