[Postembolic pulmonary hypertension]

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a rare disease characterized by the persistence of thromboemboli obstructing the pulmonary arteries as an organized tissue. The consequence is an increase in pulmonary vascular resistance resulting in pulmonary hypertension (PH) and progressive right heart failure.

Background: It is difficult to recognize the postembolic nature of PH because there is no known history of thromboembolic disease in more than 50% of cases. Diagnosis is based on the presence of mismatched segmental defects in the ventilation-perfusion scanning. When CTEPH is suspected, pulmonary angiography and high-resolution CT scan are required to establish the diagnosis and to assess the operability. Pulmonary angiography is always performed in conjunction with a diagnostic right heart catheterization, which is required to confirm the diagnosis of PH and to determine the degree of hemodynamic impairement. If there is a good correlation between the pulmonary vascular resistance and the anatomical obstruction, pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) must be proposed. Otherwise, vasodilator and antiproliferative treatments and lung transplantation represent interesting alternatives.

Viewpoint and conclusion: PEA remains the treatment of choice for eligible patients. Nevertheless, there is a need to conduct randomized trials to assess the efficacy of novel medical therapies in some situations: (1) in inoperable CTEPH due to distal lesions, (2) before PEA (therapeutic bridge) in patients who are considered "high risk" due to extremely poor hemodynamics, (3) in patients with persistent pulmonary hypertension after surgery.