Definitions and Diagnosis of Pulmonary Hypertension Hoeper, Marius M., MD; Bogaard, Harm Jan, MD; Condliffe, Robin, MD ...
Journal of the American College of Cardiology,
12/2013, Letnik:
62, Številka:
25
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is defined by a mean pulmonary artery pressure ≥25 mm Hg at rest, measured during right heart catheterization. There is still insufficient evidence to add an exercise ...criterion to this definition. The term pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) describes a subpopulation of patients with PH characterized hemodynamically by the presence of pre-capillary PH including an end-expiratory pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) ≤15 mm Hg and a pulmonary vascular resistance >3 Wood units. Right heart catheterization remains essential for a diagnosis of PH or PAH. This procedure requires further standardization, including uniformity of the pressure transducer zero level at the midthoracic line, which is at the level of the left atrium. One of the most common problems in the diagnostic workup of patients with PH is the distinction between PAH and PH due to left heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). A normal PAWP does not rule out the presence of HFpEF. Volume or exercise challenge during right heart catheterization may be useful to unmask the presence of left heart disease, but both tools require further evaluation before their use in general practice can be recommended. Early diagnosis of PAH remains difficult, and screening programs in asymptomatic patients are feasible only in high-risk populations, particularly in patients with systemic sclerosis, for whom recent data suggest that a combination of clinical assessment and pulmonary function testing including diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide, biomarkers, and echocardiography has a higher predictive value than echocardiography alone.
Mutations in the gene encoding the bone morphogenetic protein receptor type II (BMPR2) are the commonest genetic cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, the effect of BMPR2 mutations ...on clinical phenotype and outcomes remains uncertain.
We analysed individual participant data of 1550 patients with idiopathic, heritable, and anorexigen-associated PAH from eight cohorts that had been systematically tested for BMPR2 mutations. The primary outcome was the composite of death or lung transplantation. All-cause mortality was the secondary outcome. Hazard ratios (HRs) for death or transplantation and all-cause mortality associated with the presence of BMPR2 mutation were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models stratified by cohort.
Overall, 448 (29%) of 1550 patients had a BMPR2 mutation. Mutation carriers were younger at diagnosis (mean age 35·4 SD 14·8 vs 42·0 17·8 years), had a higher mean pulmonary artery pressure (60·5 13·8 vs 56·4 15·3 mm Hg) and pulmonary vascular resistance (16·6 8·3 vs 12·9 8·3 Wood units), and lower cardiac index (2·11 0·69 vs 2·51 0·92 L/min per m2; all p<0·0001). Patients with BMPR2 mutations were less likely to respond to acute vasodilator testing (3% 10 of 380 vs 16% 147 of 907; p<0·0001). Among the 1164 individuals with available survival data, age-adjusted and sex-adjusted HRs comparing BMPR2 mutation carriers with non-carriers were 1·42 (95% CI 1·15–1·75; p=0·0011) for the composite of death or lung transplantation and 1·27 (1·00–1·60; p=0·046) for all-cause mortality. These HRs were attenuated after adjustment for potential mediators including pulmonary vascular resistance, cardiac index, and vasoreactivity. HRs for death or transplantation and all-cause mortality associated with BMPR2 mutation were similar in men and women, but higher in patients with a younger age at diagnosis (p=0·0030 for death or transplantation, p=0·011 for all-cause mortality).
Patients with PAH and BMPR2 mutations present at a younger age with more severe disease, and are at increased risk of death, and death or transplantation, compared with those without BMPR2 mutations.
Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, INSERM, Université Paris-Sud, Intermountain Research and Medical Foundation, Vanderbilt University, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Beijing Natural Science Foundation.
Patients with chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) have chronic thromboembolic obstructions of the pulmonary arteries with exercise intolerance, but without signs of pulmonary hypertension at rest. ...We investigated the efficacy of balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) for CTED patients.
Fifteen CTED patients (4 males, 11 females) who underwent BPA were enrolled. The inclusion criteria were 1) chronic thromboembolic obstructions of the pulmonary artery identified on ventilation–perfusion scans and pulmonary angiography, 2) WHO functional class II or greater, and 3) mean PAP of <25 mmHg as measured by right heart catheterization. This study excluded patients with CTEPH at diagnosis.
At the 6-month follow-up after the final BPA session, hemodynamics and 6-min walk distance were significantly improved. Although more than half of the patients were prescribed home oxygen therapy before BPA due to O2 desaturation with exercise, the use ratio of home oxygen therapy was reduced at the time of follow-up (from 53% to 7%; P = 0.01). Furthermore, cardiopulmonary exercise tests during right heart catheterization demonstrated that BPA could ameliorate an abnormal pulmonary vascular response to exercise.
BPA can produce favorable outcomes in patients with CTED. Prospective, larger randomized clinical trials are needed to further investigate this treatment strategy.
•BPA can produce favorable outcomes in CTED patients.•BPA could ameliorate an abnormal pulmonary vascular response to exercise.•The use ratio of home oxygen therapy was reduced after BPA in CTED patients.
Objectives This study sought to identify useful predictors for hemodynamic improvement and risk of reperfusion pulmonary edema (RPE), a major complication of this procedure. Background Percutaneous ...transluminal pulmonary angioplasty (PTPA) has been reported to be effective for the treatment of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). PTPA has not been widespread because RPE has not been well predicted. Methods We included 140 consecutive procedures in 54 patients with CTEPH. The flow appearance of the target vessels was graded into 4 groups (Pulmonary Flow Grade), and we proposed PEPSI (Pulmonary Edema Predictive Scoring Index) = (sum total change of Pulmonary Flow Grade scores) × (baseline pulmonary vascular resistance). Correlations between occurrence of RPE and 11 variables, including hemodynamic parameters, number of target vessels, and PEPSI, were analyzed. Results Hemodynamic parameters significantly improved after median observation period of 6.4 months, and the sum total changes in Pulmonary Flow Grade scores were significantly correlated with the improvement in hemodynamics. Multivariate analysis revealed that PEPSI was the strongest factor correlated with the occurrence of RPE (p < 0.0001). Receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated PEPSI to be a useful marker of the risk of RPE (cutoff value 35.4, negative predictive value 92.3%). Conclusions Pulmonary Flow Grade score is useful in determining therapeutic efficacy, and PEPSI is highly supportive to reduce the risk of RPE after PTPA. Using these 2 indexes, PTPA could become a safe and common therapeutic strategy for CTEPH.
The mechanism of bleb formation in unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UIAs) remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between peri-aneurysmal contact (PAC) and bleb formation. ...Forty-five aneurysms were classified depending on the presence of blebs and PAC using computed tomographic angiography and magnetic resonance imaging. Aneurysmal hemodynamics were assessed using computational fluid dynamics. The independent variables associated with bleb formation were statistically assessed. Fourteen aneurysms (31.1%) had blebs, all of which were located at the site of PAC (group A). Thirty-one aneurysms (68.9%) had no bleb, of which 13 had a PAC (group B) and 18 had no PAC (group C). PAC was the only independent variable associated with bleb formation (p < 0.05). Aneurysmal volumes were significantly higher in group A, followed by groups B and C in series. Aneurysmal wall shear stress (WSS) tended to be lowest in group A, followed by groups B and C in series. The maximum WSS at the blebs was only 17% of the maximum WSS at the aneurysmal domes. This study demonstrated that bleb formation in UIAs was associated with the establishment of PAC during their growth, which may have more detrimental effects on bleb formation than hemodynamics.
Background:The trend of the initial treatment strategy for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has changed from monotherapies to upfront combination therapies. This study analyzed treatments and ...outcomes in Japanese patients with PAH, using data from the Japan PH Registry (JAPHR), which is the first organized multicenter registry for PAH in Japan.Methods and Results:We studied 189 consecutive patients (108 treatment-naïve and 81 background therapy patients) with PAH in 8 pulmonary hypertension (PH) centers enrolled from April 2008 to March 2013. We performed retrospective survival analyses and analyzed the association between upfront combination and hemodynamic improvement, adjusting for baseline NYHA classification status. Among the 189 patients, 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 97.0% (95% CI: 92.1–98.4), 92.6% (95% CI: 87.0–95.9), and 88.2% (95% CI: 81.3–92.7), respectively. In the treatment-naïve cohort, 33% of the patients received upfront combination therapy. In this cohort, 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 97.6% (95% CI: 90.6–99.4), 97.6% (95% CI: 90.6–99.4), and 95.7% (95% CI: 86.9–98.6), respectively. Patients on upfront combination therapy were 5.27-fold more likely to show hemodynamic improvement at the first follow-up compared with monotherapy (95% CI: 2.68–10.36).Conclusions:According to JAPHR data, initial upfront combination therapy is associated with improvement in hemodynamic status.